Morphology and multigene phylogeny reveal new genus and species of Torulaceae from freshwater habitats in northwestern Yunnan, China

Abstract

Current investigations on taxonomy of lignicolous freshwater fungi in northwestern Yunnan, China, have led to the discovery of new fungal species and records that belong to the family Torulaceae. In this paper, 21 fresh collections of Torulaceae from submerged wood in freshwater are characterized based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TEF1α sequence data. A new monotypic genus Rostriconidium represented by Rostriconidium aquaticum sp. nov., one new species of Torula (Torula aquatica), and a single new Dendryphion species (Dendryphion fluminicola) are introduced based on their distinct morphological features and evidence from molecular phylogeny. Multigene phylogeny also supports the family Torulaceae as a strongly supported monophyletic lineage with clear intergeneric boundaries basal to Roussoellaceae. Descriptions of Torula ficus and Torula masonii from the new collections are also provided, and they are first records for China.