Abstract
During an ongoing investigation of Ascomycetes from plant substrates, three saprobic species were found from plant substrates. Two new species, Leptosphaeria regiae and Neomicrosphaeropsis juglandis were isolated from dead branches of Juglans regia from Turkey. Another species is introduced herein as Subplenodomus urticae sp. nov within the family Leptosphaeriaceae found on Urtica dioica in Italy. Multigene phylogenies based on combined LSU, ITS, SSU, and β-tubulin DNA sequence data generated from maximum likelihood and MrBayes analyses indicate that Leptosphaeria regiae is related to L. slovacica and forms an independent lineage within the genus Leptosphaeria. Subplenodomus urticae is basal to S. iridicola and its establishment as a new species is strongly supported. Neomicrosphaeropsis juglandis forms a moderately supported lineage in between N. italica and N. elaeagni in the Didymellaceae. Full morphological details are provided herein and phylogenetic relationships of the three new species are also discussed.
Highlights
The bitunicate fungi commonly known as Dothideomycetes is one of the largest group of fungi with a high level of diversity (Zhang et al, 2012; Hyde et al, 2013, 2018, 2019; Tibpromma et al, 2017; Jayasiri et al, 2019)
Ascospores 15– 18 × 6–7 μm (x = 17.1 × 7.1 μm, n = 30), uni to bi-seriate, hyaline brown when immature, becoming yellowish brown to brown at maturity, ellipsoid to broadly fusiform, with rounded to acute ends, slightly clavate, narrow toward the base, 3-septate, FIGURE 2 | Leptosphaeria regiae (MFLU 17-0523, holotype). (a) Specimen. (b,c) Appearance of ascomata on host surface. (d) Vertical section through the ascoma. (e) Peridium. (f) Hamathecium. (g–k) Asci. (l–o) Ascospores. (p) Germinating ascospore. (q,r) Culture characteristics on malt extract agar (MEA) (q: above view; r: reverse view)
Phylogeny recovered depict a close association of Leptosphaeria regiae to L. slovacica but the affinities of the latter with other species is obscure
Summary
The bitunicate fungi commonly known as Dothideomycetes is one of the largest group of fungi with a high level of diversity (Zhang et al, 2012; Hyde et al, 2013, 2018, 2019; Tibpromma et al, 2017; Jayasiri et al, 2019). Most of them exist as decomposers, endophytes, epiphytes, fungicolous, lichenized, or lichenicolous fungi in diverse environments (Jeewon et al, 2013, 2017; Phukhamsakda et al, 2016; Doilom et al, 2017; Wanasinghe et al, 2018; Pem et al, 2019a; Phookamsak et al, 2019) They can reproduce either sexually or asexually (Doilom et al, 2014, 2018; Wijayawardene et al, 2014, 2018; Pem et al, 2019c,d). We introduce a new asexual species in the genus Neomicrosphaeropsis isolated from stems of Juglans regia (Juglandaceae) in Turkey using multi-gene (LSU, ITS, SSU, and β-tubulin) phylogenetic data. The aim of this study is to characterize these three fungal isolates in terms of morphology and phylogeny based on multi-gene sequence data
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