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Laboratorio de Ficología y Micología, Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur, San Juan 670, 8000 Bahía Blanca, Argentina
| ABSTRACT |
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Two species of Nitschkia are described from bark and wood of a legume shrub, native to the semiarid regions of Argentina. Nitschkia campylospora is characterized by asci with a variable number of ascospores, mainly 16, and curved ascospores; hairy ascomata and large ascospores are two distinct features of Nitschkia pilosa. The new species are compared with most similar species. A key to Nitschkia species is provided with the inclusion of comments on those from Argentina and neighboring countries.
Key words: Munk pores, Nitschkiaceae, systematics
| INTRODUCTION |
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The two species differ from the hitherto published species and here are described as new. A key to species of Nitschkia is provided. Some additional information on species from continental southern (semi-arid and subtropical) South America is included.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Nitschkia campylospora Bianchinotti sp. nov. FIGS. 110
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Specimens examined. ARGENTINA. BUENOS AIRES: Partido Coronel Rosales, Villa Maio, Ruta Provincial 229 km 9, on decorticated wood of Geoffroea decorticans, 30 May 1990, Bianchinotti 115 (HOLOTYPE: BBB); same locality and substratum, 12 Oct 2002, Bianchinotti 171, 172 (BBB), 173 (ISOTYPE: F).
Ascomata superficial on decorticated wood, gregarious, subglobose, cup-shaped when collapsing, 200400 µm diam, non papillate, non ostiolate, surface minutely warted, black. Ascomata surrounded by an iridescent light brown tomentum, composed of undulating, richly branched, thick-walled, dark hyphae, 712 µm diam; subiculum more abundant in immature ascomata. Peridium pseudoparenchymatous comprising two layers; external layer of large, polyhedral, thick-walled, heavily pigmented, dark brown cells possessing Munk pores. Inner layer comprising pale, thin-walled cells; cells surrounding the interior of the locule tangentially compressed, with acute ends. Quëllkorper short and dome-like. Asci clavate, more than 100 µm long, unitunicate, thin-walled, evanescent, with (4)16(25) ascospores irregularly disposed in each ascus; apex simple. Ascospores allantoid, strongly curved, (8.5)9.513 x (1.5)22.5 µm, hyaline, smooth, 1-septate, with two large guttules in each cell.
Anamorph. None known.
Etymology.
From Greek 
µ

o
: curved, referring to shape of ascospores.
Nitschkia pilosa Bianchinotti sp. nov. FIGS. 1120
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Specimens examined. ARGENTINA. BUENOS AIRES: Partido Coronel Rosales, crossroads between Ruta Nacional 3 and Ruta Provincial 229, bark of Geoffroea decorticans, 22 May 1991, Bianchinotti 118 (HOLOTY PE: BBB); same collecting information, Bianchinotti 116, 117 (ISOTY PES: F); Partido Bahía Blanca, Campo Tarantino, 38°40'S, 62°18', bark of Geoffroea decorticans, 1 Sep 1986, Bianchinotti 7, 50, 52 (BBB); same locality and substratum, 25 Dec 1986, Bianchinotti 109, 110 (BBB); 10 April 1987, Bianchinotti 86 (BBB); 7 Jul 1987, Bianchinotti 83, 96, 97, 98, 99 (BBB).
Ascomata superficial on inner bark, scattered to gregarious, subglobose to turbinate, collabent on drying, 125380 µm diam, with a short papilla and a well developed sterile base, non ostiolate, surface minutely warted, hairy, dark brown to black. Hairs subcylindric, septate, to 150 µm long, 410 µm at base, thick-walled, subhyaline to pale brown; thinner and paler towards the acute or rounded ends, base cylindrical to subglobose. Peridium ca 30 µm wide except up to 80 µm wide in the basal portion; composed of two regions, external region composed of 57 layers of large, 715 µm diam, polyhedral, thick-walled, heavily pigmented, dark brown cells; cells paler and thinner-walled toward the interior, organized in more or less vertical rows in the basal portion, with simple Munk pores. Internal region composed of 34 layers of thin-walled, hyaline, tangentially compressed cells with acute ends, 23 µm wide. Quëllkorper short and dome-like. Asci oblong to clavate, 75120 x 1535 µm, unitunicate, thin-walled, evanescent, 64-spored, apex simple lacking any visible apparatus. Ascospores suballantoid to allantoid, (6.5)9.511(12) x (2.5)34(5) µm, hyaline, smooth, 1-septate.
Etymology. From Latin pilus (hair), referring to those that cover the ascomata.
Anamorph. None known.
| DISCUSSION |
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Most Nitschkia species are saprobic on branches or decorticated wood, and a few are hyperparasitic on fungi. Typically their small nonostiolate ascomata look like sessile apothecia when dry, and are commonly surrounded by a subiculum. The tomentum in N. campylospora is typical of the genus, but ascomatal hairs as those found in N. pilosa have not been reported. These hairs are similar to those described in some species of Lasiosphaeria Ces. & De Not. (e.g., L. strigosa [Albert. & Schw. ] Sacc. and L. stuppea Ellis. & Ev., as illustrated by Seaver 1912
) and resemble those described in Nitschkiopsis Nann. & R.Sant., a lichenicolous member of Nitschkiaceae (Nannfeldt 1975b
).
The ascomatal peridium is pseudoparenchymatous, composed of two distinct layers. One striking feature is the presence of Munk pores in the cells of the outer layer. Typically one per cell, they are ca 1 µm diam and surrounded by a ring-shaped thickening of the wall. They are not always obvious, and their number varies depending upon the species and developmental stage (Nannfeldt 1975b
). In N. campylospora, the conspicuous pores are typical of the genus and two per cell frequently can be observed. In N. pilosa, ascomata of different ages show pores that are simpler, appearing merely as circular thinning of the wall. One or more pores could be observed both in the common wall between adjacent cells and in the exterior wall as well. They resemble the simple pores described in Lasiobertia Sivan., a genus similar to Oxydothis Penz. & Sacc., with a rather uncertain taxonomic position in the opinion of Eriksson and Santesson (1986)
, that was considered a member of the Lasiosphaeriaceae by Barr (1990)
and later transferred to the Hyponectriaceae by Hyde (1993)
.
Peridial pores were considered for a long time unique to members of "Coronophorales", but Cannon (1995)
clearly showed that they are more widespread among ascomycetes than previously thought. A few more examples can be added to those mentioned by Cannon (1995)
Lasiobertia africana Sivan., Lasiosphaeriella dennisii Sivan. (Sivanesan 1975
), Lasiosphaeriopsis salisbur yi D. Hawksw. & Sivan. (Hawksworth 1980), L. stereocaulicola (Lindsay) O. E. Erikss. & R. Sant. (Eriksson and Santesson 1986
), and Melanospora sphaerodermoides Grove (Shoemaker and Smith 1970
).
The function of Munk pores is unknown. A hypothetical explanation is that they could help in transporting moisture to the interior of the ascoma, which is diminished by the heavily pigmented and thickened walls, thus enhancing the discharge of ascospores from the entirely closed ascomata. Observations made after wetting ascomata of the two species described here were similar to those reported by Nannfeldt (1975b)
for N. parasitans, in which spores were extruded in a slimy mass from the top of ascomata that had been kept in a moist chamber. It is thought that the cell mass known as Quëllkorper, which may become swollen, plays an important role in ascomata discharge. In addition, Vujanovic (2002)
recently has reported the important increase of Quëllkorper cells size in water.
Asci in the two species described here are typical of the family, being long claviform, unitunicate, thin-walled and evanescent. No evidence of any thickening or apical structures could be found in bright field or phase contrast observations made with Congo Red, Janus Green or fluorescence microscopy using calcofluor. True paraphyses are lacking. Instead, cellular remnants corresponding to the "restes des cellules nourricières" described by Parguey-Leduc (1966)
) were observed among immature asci.
Asci in most Nitschkia species are octosporous; rarely they are 4-spored and in a few they are polysporous. The mostly 16-spored asci of Nitschkia campylospora and the particular shape of the ascospores distinguish it from other species. Although variation in number of ascospores in asci of the same ascomata has been reported previously in Nitschkia affinis (H.& P. Syd.) Nannf. and in N. leonensis (Sivan.) Nannf., the most frequently observed numbers of ascospores in both species are 32 and 25. The ascospores strongly resemble those of Acanthonitschkea argentinensis Speg., which is characterized by dark bristles on the subiculum and ascomata, 8-spored asci, and smaller ascospores (68 x 2 µm) (Spegazzini 1908
).
Asci in N. pilosa and N. molnarii Funk are both 64-spored, but the latter has glabrous ascomata and smaller ascospores (Funk 1979
). In addition, ascospores of N. pilosa are much wider (up to 5 µm) than those in all other polysporous species described to date.
An unidentified stromatic coelomycete producing hyaline microconidia in phialidic conidiogenous cells occasionally was observed growing close to the ascomata of N. campylospora. Funk (1979)
considered a pycnidial fungus with Munk pores in the outer wall cells to be the anamorphic state of N. molnarii. Vujanovic (2002)
found similar pycnidia in the same pustule as N. parasitans var. mijuskovicii Vujanovic. This circumstantial evidence would suggest the pycnidial states belong in the respective life cycles. However, because no Nitschkia species has been grown in pure culture, no correlation with any anamorphic state can be established with certainty.
Although Nitschkia species are well known in some regions of Europe and India, they have not been widely collected and studied in other parts of the world. Nannfeldt (1975b)
predicted that a number of undescribed species as well as others described in the most unexpected genera reside in South Temperate Zones. More collectors and collaborative research is urgently needed to increase our knowledge of these minute but extremely interesting fungi.
| KEY TO NITSCHKIA SPECIES |
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Excluded: Nitschkia archeri (Berk.) Subram. & Sekar and N. didyma (Speg.) Subramanian & Sekar. Type material of both species were first examined by Fitzpatrick (1923)
and then by Nannfeldt (1975b)
who considered them as belonging to Thaxteria Sacc. because of their large ostiolate ascomata, which not become characteristically cupulate, the asci with truncate tips with thickened walls and small rings and the broadly subcylindrical, geniculate rather allantoid, 3-septate, dark brown ascospores.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 E-mail: vbianchi{at}criba.edu.ar
| LITERATURE CITED |
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Cannon PF. 1995. Studies on fungi with isthmoid ascospores: the genus Vialaea, with the description of the new family Vialaeaceae. Mycol Res 99:367373.
Carroll GC, Munk A. 1964. Studies on lignicolous Sordariaceae. Mycologia 56:7798.
Eriksson O, Santesson R. 1986. Lasiosphaeriopsis stereocaulicola. Mycotaxon 25:569580.
Fitzpatrick HM. 1923. Monograph of the Nitschkieae. Mycologia 15:2365.
. 1924. The genus Fracchiaea. Mycologia 16:101114.
Funk A. 1979. A new Nitschkia on western conifers and its probable microconidial state. Can J Bot 57:21132115.
Hyde KD. 1993. Fungi from palms. VI. Reflections on Oxydothis and related genera. Sydowia 45:204225.
Nannfeldt JA. 1975a. Stray studies in the Coronophorales (Pyrenomycetes) 13. Svensk Bot Tidskr 69:4966.
. 1975b. Stray studies in the Coronophorales (Pyrenomycetes) 48. Svensk Bot Tidskr 69:289335.
Parguey-Leduc A. 1966. Recherches sur lontogenie et lanatomie des ascocarpes des Pyrénomycètes ascoloculaires. 2. Les ascocarpes des Pyrénomycètes unituniqués. Ann Sci Nat Bot 12:1930.
Romero AI. 1987. Contribución al estudio de los hongos xilófilos de la Argentina. II. Ascomycotina en Eucalyptus viminalis (Myrtaceae). Darwiniana 28:251270.
, Carmarán CC. 1997. Algunos micromicetes xilófilos de la región subtropical Argentina. I. Misiones. Bol Soc Argent Bot 33:5967.
, Minter DW. 1988. Fluorescence microscopy fungi: an aid to the elucidation of ascomycete structures. Trans Brit Mycol Soc 90:457470.
, Samuels GJ. 1991. Studies on xylophilous fungi from Argentina. VI. Ascomycotina on Eucalyptus viminalis (Myrtaceae). Sydowia 43:228248.
Seaver FJ. 1912. The genus Lasiosphaeria. Mycologia 4:115124.
Shoemaker RA, Smith JD. 1970. Melanospora sphaerodermoides on seed of Agrostis palustris. Can J Bot 48:16571658.
Sivanesan A. 1974. Two new genera of Coronophorales with description and key. Trans Br Mycol Soc 62:3543.
. 1975. Lasiosphaeriella, a new genus of the family Lasiosphaeriaceae. Trans Br Mycol Soc 64:441445.
. 1978. Lasiobertia africana gen. et sp. nov. and a new variety of Bertia moriformis.Trans Br Mycol Soc 70:383387.
Spegazzini C. 1880. Fungi Argentini Pug 2. Anal Soc Cient Argentina 10:122142.
. 1888. Fungi Guaranitici. Pugillus II. Anal Soc Cient Argentina 26:574.
. 1908. Hongos de la Yerba mate. Anal Mus Nac Buenos Aires (ser 3 t 10) 17:111141.
Subramanian CV, Sekar G. 1990. Coronophorales from Indiaa monograph. Kavaka 18:1990.
von Arx JA. 1981. On Monilia sitophila and some Families of Ascomycetes. Sydowia 34:1319.
Vujanovic V. 2002. A new variety of Nitschkia parasitans hyperparasitic on Nectria cinnabarina from American beech. Mycologia 82:121126.
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