Ellisembia yuxiense Q. F. Zhang, K. Habib & Q. R. Li sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Etymology.

The specific epithet refers to the location where the holotype specimen was collected, Yuxi City.

Type.

China • Yunnan Province, Yuxi City, Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve (24 ° 5 ' 7.01 " N, 101 ° 31 ' 30.44 " E), altitude: 1169 m, on moist decayed branch, 15 September 2024, Qinfang Zhang, 2024 ALS 177-1 (GMB 5104, holotype; GMBC 5104, ex-type); KUN-HKAS 146987, isotype.

Description.

Saprobic on decaying twigs of an unknown branch. Sexual morph: undetermined. Asexual morph: Mycelium superficial, septate, light brown to brown, numerous, scattered, single or in groups. Conidiophores 81–158 × 4–6 µm (av. = 110.3 × 5.1 µm, n = 30), macronematous, mononematous, solitary or caespitose, erect, verruculose, straight or slightly curved, becoming slightly narrower towards the apex, 7–12 - septate, smooth-walled, unbranched. Conidiogenous cells 3–6 × 2–4 µm (av. = 4.7 × 3.8 µm, n = 30), monoblastic, integrated, pale brown, terminal, cylindrical. Conidia 24–57 µm (av. = 40.4, n = 30) long, 6–9 µm (av. = 8.8 µm, n = 30) wide at the broadest part, tapering to 2–4 μm (av. = 3.4 μm, n = 30) wide at apex, 2–5 μm (av. = 3.4 μm, n = 30) wide at base, solitary, acrogenous, smooth, obclavate, truncate at the base, gray to light brown, without a mucilaginous cap, 5–9 - distoseptate, and also 3–5 euseptate.

Culture characteristics.

Conidia germinate on water agar within 12 hours. At 24 ° C, colonies growing on PDA reach a diameter of 10–15 mm after 7 weeks. Colonies convex, surface rough, moist, uneven, from above grayish-white, reverse dark brown to black. No pigmentation was produced in the culture medium.

Additional material examined.

China • Yunnan Province, Yuxi City, Ailaoshan National Nature Reserve (28 ° 19 ' 21.77 " N, 104 ° 00 ' 19.21 " E), altitude: 1419 m, on moist decayed branch, 15 September 2024, Qinfang Zhang, 2024 ALS 175 (GMB 5108; GMBC 5108).

Notes.

Phylogenetically, Ellisembia yuxiense formed a well-supported sister branch to E. calyptrata (HKUCC- 10821) (Fig. 1). However, the two species can be readily distinguished by conidiophore and conidia dimensions. Ellisembia yuxiense has significantly longer conidiophores (81–158 × 4–6 µm) compared to E. calyptrata (30–50 × 6–7 µm) and smaller conidia (24–57 × 6–9 µm vs. 60–90 × 9–12 µm) (Wu and Zhuang 2005; Shenoy et al. 2006). Morphologically, Ellisembia yuxiense resembles E. cryptomeriae in conidiophore size; however, the latter can be distinguished by its larger conidia, 20–85 × 7–14 µm with 6–17 septa, compared to E. yuxiense, which has conidia 24–57 × 6–9 µm with 5–9 septa. Differences from other morphologically similar species are provided in Table 2.

Furthermore, only the LSU and rpb 2 sequence data are accessible for E. calyptrata. A comparison of sequence data of the LSU and rpb 2 between E. yuxiense (GMB 5104) and E. calyptrata (HKUCC- 10821) shows 98.57 % sequence identity in LSU and 88.72 % sequence identity in rpb 2.