Xylaria taiyangheensis W. Y. Zeng & Q. R. Li sp. nov.

Fig. 5

Etymology.

The specific epithet refers to its collection location, Taiyanghe Provincial Nature Reserve.

Type.

China. • Yunnan Province, Puer City, Taiyanghe Provincial Nature Reserve, 22 ° 38 ' 24 ″ N, 101 ° 15 ' 13 ″ E, elev. 1032 m, on twigs of Goniothalamus cheliensis Hu, July 2023, Wenyu Zeng & Xin Zhou, TYH 5 (GMB 4704 Holotype; KUN-HKAS 134918 Isotype; GMBC 4704 ex-type).

Description.

Saprobic on twigs of Goniothalamus cheliensis. Sexual morph: Stromata 0.7–2.7 cm in total length, cylindrical at fertile part, unbranched, long and smooth stipe, 10–24 mm long, fertile part 5–13 mm long × 0.5–1 mm diam., surface black, with 2 / 3 - exposed to fully exposed perithecial mounds, interior white, homogeneous. Perithecia 247–365 μm broad, closely arranged. Ostioles papillate. Asci 79–107 × 6.5–11.3 μm (x ̄ = 93 × 8.9 μm, n = 30), 8 - spored, unitunicate, cylindrical, apically rounded, with a urn-shaped apical apparatus, blue staining in Melzer’s reagent, 4.1–7.1 × 4.6–6.5 μm (x ̄ = 5.6 × 5.5 μm, n = 30). Ascospores 11.6–20.3 × 4.0–7.0 μm (x ̄ = 15.9 × 5.5 μm, n = 30), uniseriate, unicellular, brown, ellipsoid to inequilateral, with broadly rounded ends, smooth, without germ slit, lacking appendages and sheaths, epispore smooth. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies on OA reaching 1–1.5 cm diam. after 2 weeks at 25 ° C white at first, with irregular margins, then extension spreading toward the edge of the petri dish; the overall color is light white.

Additional material examined.

China. • Yunnan Province, Puer City, Taiyanghe Provincial Nature Reserve, 22 ° 38 ' 24 ″ N, 101 ° 15 ' 13 ″ E, elev. 962 m, on twigs of unknown plants, July 2023, Wenyu Zeng & Xin Zhou, TYH 5-1 (GMB 4708; GMBC 4708).

Notes.

Phylogenetically, it is closely related to X. phyllocharis. However, X. phyllocharis differs in having stromata with a slight perithecial mound, smaller ascomata (100–250 μm in breadth), and smaller ascospores (9–12.5 × 4.5–7 μm) with a straight germ slit (Ju and Hsieh 2023). Morphologically, X. taiyangheensis and X. noduliformis show similar stromata, but the latter has smaller ascospores (9–11 × 5.5–7 µm) with a straight germ slit (Ju and Hsieh 2023). Moreover, X. noduliformis differs from the new collection by its host, and association with petioles.