Microsphaeropsis rugospora, a new species from Japanese soil

Abstract

A new species ofMicrosphaeropsis (Sphaeropsidales, Coelomycetes),M. rugospora, is described and illustrated. This fungus is characterized by its rapid growth on common media such as oatmeal and potato-carrot agars; semi-immersed to immersed, nearly globose, papillate pycnidias; pale yellowish brown, translucent, membranaceous peridium; monophialidic, ampulliform conidiogenous cells; and one-celled, dark brown, globose conidia ornamented with distinct tubercles. The holotype was isolated from the cultivated soil in Tanegashima Island, southern Japan. In an exploratory survey of soil-borne mitosporic fungi as producers of secondary metabolites useful to the pharmaceutical industry, a pale yellow pycnidial coelomycete was encountered and isolated on potato-dextrose agar. The fungus was characterized as follows: rapid growth on common media, conidiomata which are non-pulvinate, semi-immersed to immersed, nearly globose, glabrous, with a slightly papillate ostiole; pale yellowish brown, translucent, membranaceous peridium; discrete, ampulliform, monophialidic conidiogenous cells; and onecelled, dark brown, globose, thick-walled, rugose conidia which germinate very easily. In accordance with this profile, our isolate is included in the genusMicrosphaeropsis Hohnel. (Morgan-Jones, 1974a, b; Sutton, 1977, 1980; Morgan-Jones and White, 1987; Heiny et al., 1992; Katumoto, 1992). However, it proved to be sufficiently different from all described species ofMicrosphaeropsis to warrant its description as a new species.