Coniella quercicola L. V. Alvarez & Crous, Studies

Index Fungorum number: IF817831

Endophytic on fresh leaves of Coriaria nepalensis Sexual morph: Available in Tennakoon et al. (2021). Asexual morph on PDA: Conidiomata 165–265 µm wide (x = 215 µm; n = 20), 150–220 µm high (x = 185 µm; n = 20), pycnidial, solitary, immersed or superficial, obpyriform, from hyaline to yellowish becoming deep brown to black with age, glabrous, ostiolate. Ostiole central 20–30 µm diam. Conidiomatal wall 20–45 µm thick (x = 28 µm; n = 20), comprised by brown, thick-walled cells of textura angularis, multilayered, hyaline to brown outwardly, with plate orientation. Conidiophores densely aggregated, reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells 5–7 × 2–4 µm (x = 6 × 3 µm, n = 15), aggregated, subulate, simple, hyaline, smooth-walled. Conidia 15–20 × 3–4.5 µm (x = 17 × 3.8 µm, n = 15), hyaline, fusiform or naviculate to cylindrical, slightly curved, asymmetrical, aseptate, rounded to acute apex, smooth-walled, without a mucoid appendage.

Culture characteristics: Colonies on PDA, reaching around 30 mm diameter after 2 weeks at 20–25 °C, light yellow-brown, dense, circular, flat, smooth, erose or dentate edge from obverse; light brown to brown from reverse. Without pigments produced in PDA.

Distribution: Netherlands; Pakistan (Alvarez et al. 2016); China (Taiwan, Guizhou, Yunnan) (Tennakoon et al. 2021, Wang et al. 2022b, this study).

Substratum: leaf litter of Quercus robur (Alvarez et al. 2016); dead leaves of Celtis formosana (Cannabaceae) (Tennakoon et al. 2021); leaves of Hypericum patulum, Aralia chinensis and Acer palmatum (Wang et al. 2022b); fresh leaves of Coriaria nepalensis (this study).

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Kunming, Kunyang, an abandoned and Open-Pit Phosphate Mine, on fresh leaves of Coriaria nepalensis, 22 August 2022, C. J. Dao, 2 MS1 L10 (HKAS 129063), living culture KUNCC23-13349. GenBank number ITS: OR094459, LSU: OR0944594, rpb2: OR095635, tef1-α: OR095638.

Notes: Our isolate KUNCC 23-13349 fully matches Coniella quercicola, with forming white to yellowish brown colonies, pycnidial, solitary to gregarious, globose, unilocular, ostiolate conidiomata in PDA; and producing fusiform, hyaline, navicular, smooth-walled conidia, 15–20 × 3–4 µm (this study, Tennakoon et al. 2021). In addition, the BLASTn results of LSU, ITS and rpb2 show 99–100% similarity with Co. quercicola strains viz. CBS 904.69, GUCC 412.3, GUCC 405.6, and CBS 283.76.The mult-gene phylogenetic trees (ML, BI) also indicate our Co. quercicola (KUNCC 23- 13349) clustered with other Co. quercicola strains (Figure 4). Based on morphology and phylogeny, we introduce a new host record of Co. quercicola, which was endophytic on leaves of Coriaria nepalensis.