Melanospora zamiae Corda, Icon.

(Plate 1, Figs. 15–16)

Ascomata ostiolate, usually scattered, semi immersed to superficial, globose to subglobose with a long, cylindrical neck, light brown to golden, 650–750 × 290–350 μm. Neck long, straight to slightly curved, 150–370 × 70–85 μm, with a mucilaginous mass of mature ascospores at the apex. Terminal hairs setose, straight to slightly flexuous, simple, thick-walled, septate, smooth, hyaline to faintly yellowish, 2.5–5(–7.5) μm in diameter at the broadest part, up to 225μ m long, crowning the neck. Lateral hairs sparse, hyphoid, simple, thin-walled, hyaline. Peridium pseudoparenchymatous, membranaceous, translucent, fragile, polygonal a textura angularis of thin-walled, light yellow to yellowish brown cells, 15–17.5 μm diam., becoming more elongated towards the neck. Asci 8-spored, clavate, with rounded apex and a short stipe, 35.5–50 × 20–25 μm, evanescent. Ascospores 1-celled, ellipsoidal to limoniform, smooth, hyaline when young, then clear brown and finally dark brown, 15–20(–22.5) × 12.5–15 μm, with two terminal germ pores early dispersed to form a dark mass at the neck apex.

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Recife, on goat dung, 9 Jul 2011, R. F. R. Melo (URM 86670!).

Habitat: —Plant material, paper and deer dung. Parasitic on some fungi.

Distribution: —Africa (Egypt, Libya, Sierra Leone, Zambia), Asia (India, Israel), Europe (Germany, United Kingdom), North America (Canada, Martinique and United States), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and South America (Argentina).

Notes:—This species can be identified by its long neck (150–370 μm long), glabrous to slightly pilose perithecia and predominantly limoniform ascospores, not flattened.