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Vittatispora, a new melanosporaceous genus from Indian soil

     Research & Development, Biocon Ltd, 20th km, Hosur Road, Electronic City P.O., Bangalore 560 100, India

Jinx Campbell

     Department of Coastal Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, 703 East Beach Drive, Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564

David L. Hawksworth

     MycoNova, The Yellow House, Calle Aguila 12, Colonia la Maliciosa, Mataelpino, Madrid 28492, Spain

Kedarnath N. Sastry ¹

     Research & Development, Biocon Ltd, 20th km, Hosur Road, Electronic City P.O., Bangalore 560 100, India

Vittatispora coorgii gen. sp. nov., isolated from soil in India, is described and illustrated. The fungus has morphological characteristics of the genera Melanospora, Sphaerodes and Syspastospora. The most striking feature is the presence of a thick hyaline ridge along the vertical axis of the lemon-shaped ascospores wall. Perithecia also have a long neck composed of adhering hyphae, similar to that of Syspatospora. Phylogenetic studies on the 28S rDNA indicate it is closely related to Melanospora and Sphaerodes and belongs in the Ceratostomataceae. The new genus is based on the distinctive morphology and phylogenetic analyses. The fungus grew in culture only conjointly with a sterile fungus which a BLAST analysis suggested was close to Tetracladium marchalianum.

Key words: Ascomycota, Ceratostomataceae, Melanospora, perithecia, Sphaerodes, Syspastospora, 28S rDNA