2.41
Volume 100, pp. 295-303 A p r il-fu n e 2 0 0 7
Vittalia indica gen. & sp. nov. and Heficoma indicum sp. nov.
from the forests of northeastern India
Pu ja Ga w a s ' & D.J. Bh a t 1 1 pujclbg@yahoo.cu.irt & ‘ bhatdj@reiiijftnail.com
D epartm ent o f Botany, Goa University Goa-403 206, India
A bstract — Two new ly discovered hyphomycetous fungi isolated from forest litter of northeastern India are described in this paper. Vittalia, typified bv V. indicn, has solitary, venucose, euxeptate conidia produced on m onolretic conidiogenous cells br-rne on sraootn, branched conidiophores. The new species. Helicoma imUcum. is distinguished from other known species in the genus by its uniseptate conidia.
K eyw ords — Bhurathccya, Diplococcium, funga! diversity, Spadicoidcs, taxonom y
A runachal Pradesh, A ssam , Mizoram and Nagaland, the northeastern Indian States, exhibit a rich a n d luxuriant floristic diversity (Borges 2005). Owing to steep altitudinal v ariatio n s, the region possesses a temperate to sub-tropical climate (Ao & B ordoloi 2004). While som e data on lichen and macrofungal diversity is available (Sati et al. 1997), not m uch is known on microfungal diversity o f the n o rth e a ste rn region.
D u rin g a recent field trip to a few localities, in th e region, as part o f an All-India C oordinated Project o n Taxonomy of Fungi, samples o f dead an d decaying twigs and leaves w ere gathered. Of the several fungi isolated from these litter substrates, two new hyphom ycetous taxa are described here.
T axonom ic d e s c rip tio n Vittalia Gawas & Bhat anara. gen. nov.
MycoBakk MB510706
Ad fungos conidiales, hyphomycctes. Coloniae cffusae, palliJe brunneae v d bnmneae, pappim. Mycelium partini substrata itnmcrsum, partim superficinle. Stroma absentia.
Setae et hyphopodia absentia. Conidiophora macronemalica, mononematica, longa, aitgusla, mycehoida, carvatn vet flcxtiosn, pallidc brunnca re! brtmnca, laevia vel
I n tro d u c tio n
q 296 ... Gawas & Bhat
verrucosa, septatn, ramosa vel non-ramom. Cdlulae cottuliogertae monotivticae, nunquam cicutricem, integratae. terminates v d intercahire. Conidia sicca, solitario, hyalina vel patttdc brunncti, laevia v d verrucosa, cylindrica, rotundalu a d duo cxtrimitas, recta vel utlantoidea, euteptuta.
Etymology: In honor of Prof. B.P.R. Vittal, University o f M adras, India, a distinguished mycologist, who made enorm ous contributions to his discipline.
Conidial fungus, hyphom ycete. Colonies effuse, pale to olivaceous brow n, woolly. Mycelium partly im m ersed, partly superficial. Stroma none. Setae and hyphopodia absent. Conidiophores distinct, single, long, narrow, mycelioid, curved to flexuous, pale to olivaceous brown, sm ooth to verrucose, septate, branched or unbranched. Conidiogenous cells m onotretic, non-cicatrized, integrated, terminal or intercalary. Cortidia dry, solitary, hyaline to pale brow n, sm ooth to verrucose, cylindrical, rounded at both ends, straight to allantoid, euseptate. Conidial secession rhexolytic.
Type species: V. indica
Vittalia indica Gawas & Bhat sp. nov. Fig. 1 ,3-9 M*rnH • vv MJKJ07O7
A d fungos conidiales, hyphomycetes. Coloniae cffusae, pullidc brunnea vel brunnea, pappim. Mycelium partim substrata immersum, partim superficiale, ex hyphis septatis, ramosis, hyalinis vel pallide brunneis. 2-3.S \im lat, Conidiophora macronematica, rncmonematicn, longa, angusta, myedioida, curvata vel flexuosa, pallide brunnea vel brunnea, laevia, septata, ramosa, ramus aucto longa, 2-3 \im lat. Cellulae conidiogenae monotreticae, nunquam cicatricem, integratae, terminates ad intercalare, cylindricae, 16- 30 (-50) x 2-3 (tm. Conidia sicca, solitaria, hyalina. verrucosa, cylindrica, rotundata ad duo cxtrimitas, allantoidca, 3-sej)tata, 11-14 (-19) x 3-4.5 (juti.
HOLOTYPE — On dead leaf o f unidentified tree, Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh, India, coll.
D.J. Bhat, 13.07.2006. Herb. No. HCIO 46950
Conidial fungus, hyphom ycete. Colonies effuse, pale to olivaceous brow n, wooly.
Mycelium partly im m ersed, partly superficial, com posed of septate, branched, hyaline to pale brown, 2-3.5 f.im wide hyphae. Conidiophores distinct, single, long, narrow, mycelioid, curved to flexuous, pale to olivaceous brow n, sm ooth, septate, branched, branches xsften very long, 2-3 |.im wide. Conidiogenous celts m onotretic, non-cicatrized, integrated, term inal o r intercalary, cylindrical, 16- 30 (-50) x 2-3 n-m. Conidia dry, solitary, hyaline, verrucose, cylindrical, rounded at both ends, allantoid, 3-septate, 11-14 (-19) x 3-4.5 (.im.
W ith darkly pigmented, sm o o th conidiophores, integrated, non-cicatrized, cylindrical, tretic conidiogenous cells and verrucose, euseptate conidia, Vittalia resembles three o th e r hyphomycetous genera: Bharatheeyq D’Souza &
Bhat, Diplococcium Grove and Spadicoides S. H ughes (Ellis 1971, Eicker et al.
1985, D ’Souza & Bhat 2002). These differ from each other in com binations of several distinct features as detailed in Table 1. The genus Vittalia is closer to
V itittlM & lU lia tm ti tri»m lrnr 297
Bharatheeya in having long, slender, conidiophores and dry, solitary conidia.
It is similar to Diplococcium in having te rm in a l and intercalary conidiogenous cells and solitary, dry, euseptate conidia. It resembles Spadicoides in having branched conidiophores, terminal and intercalary conidiogenous cells and euseptate conidia. However, Vittalia is distin ct from all these by m onotretic
298 ~Gawas & Bh?‘
Table !: Comparison of characters that distinguish Vittalia from other similar genera Fungal genera C onidiophores Conidiogenous
cells
Conidia Itcference
Bharalheeya Erect, unbranched, septate, verrucose, inflated al the base
Polytrctic Solitary, distoseptate,
smooth
D souza and Bhat, 2002
Diplococcium Erect, unbranched, septate, smooth
Polytretic Catenate, smooth, euseptate
FJIis, 1971
Spadicoides Erect, branched, septate, smooth
Polytretic Solitary, sm ooth, euseptate
Ellis, 1971
Vittalia Flexuous, septate branched, smooth
M onotrelic Solitary, verrucose,
euseptate
Present observations
conidiogenous cells. A combination o f characters such as b ranching of conidiophores and solitary, euseptate, verrucose nature of conidia su pports the dwpCwiUoii of the furious jiv the new genus, aa -Vv ittutcu sp. nov.
Helicoma indicum Gawas & Bhat sp. nov..- MrcoBxNK MB510703
Fig. 2,10-15 A d Jungos conidiales, hyphomycetes. Coloniae effusae, pallide brunnea, velulinae.
Mycelium subitralo immersum. Conidiopkora macfonematica, mononematica.fasciculata vet synnematica. 4 - i i (mean 9) coalesce, erecta, divergentibus, pallide brunnea ad apicem.
darker ad basim, laevia, 2-6 (-15) septata, non-ramosa vel rttmosa, up tv 200 |i m longa, 2-3 ]un lat. Cctlulae conidiogenae polyblasticae. dcnticulis, integratae, terminates, cylindricae.
14-40x1.5-2.5 uni. Conidia sicca, solitaria, laevia. hyalina, helicoidea, uniseptata, in 0.5- 0.75 spiris convoluia, 5.5- 7.5 (im diam; fittim 3-3.5 \im lat.
HOLOTYPE — O n dead twig of unidentified tree. Mokokchung, Nagaland, India, coil.
D.J. Bhat, 09.07.2006. Herb. No. HCIO 46952.
Conidial fungus, hyphomycete. Colonies effuse, pale brown, velvety. Mycelium immersed. Conidiophores distinct, fasciculate, to synnematous, 4-13 (mean 9) conidiophores held together, erect, divergent, pale brown tow ards apex, darker at base, sm ooth, 2-6 (-15) septate, unbranched to bran ch ed , u p to 200 (im long, 2-3 p.m wide. Conidiogenous cells polyblastic, sym podial, denticulate, integrated, term inal, cylindrical, 14-40 x 1.5-2.5 j A m . Conidia dry, solitary, sm ooth, hyaline, uniseptate, coiled 0.5-0.75 times, 5.5- 7.5 p.m diam ; conidial filament 3-3.5 }J.m wide.
M oore (1955) provided a generic key to the helicosporous fungi. Our* fungus is a saprobe with conidiophores aggregated to form fascicles o r loose synnem ata and simple, solitary, non-hygroscopic, two-dimensionally coiled, transversely
Goos (1986) review,.- 32 o f the then know n 40 species, segregated them into four Sections, viz. Heticoma, Atroseptatum, Violaceum and M onilipes and provided a useful key to each of the sections in the genus. W ith conidia borne acropieurogenously o n conspicuous denticles, H. indicum fits well in the Sect.
Helicoma. On com parison, the fungus was found to be quite different from any o f the earlier known species, the distinct features being its u niseptate conidia and overall dim ensions (Table 2).
Table 2: Comparison of species of Helicoma belonging to Section Helicoma
Species
Conidiophore length (|u n )
Conidial diam eter (pm )
N um ber o f septa per conidium
N u m b er of coils p er conidium H. ambiens
Morgan up to 600 18-20 6-8 1.5-1.75
H. asperolhecum
Linder 55-250 15-25 8-10 l.S-1.75
H. amicodentaium
' Linder 20-125 14-20 5-7 1.25-1.75
H. deruusii
Ellis u p to 470 19-22 7-8 1.25-1.5
' H. indicum
Gawas & Bhat up to 200 5.S-7.5 1 0.5-0.75
H. inflatum
Linder IK-120 13-18 5-6 1.25-1.75
H. mudlcri
Corda up to 200 14-21 5-8 1.5-1.75
H. tumapurense
Rao&Rao 145-335 20-27 3-8 1.25-1.5
H. recurvum
(Pctch) Linder 125-300 15-20 6-8 1-1.75
H. taenia
Moore up to 600 15-20 7-16 1.5-1.75
H. taiwanensis
Matsushima 100-400 7-15 3-5 1-1.5
Helicoma indicum resembles thegenera Trochophora R.T. M oore an d Helicomyces Link in having two dimensionaliy coiled, sim ple, solitary transversely septate conidia. H. indicum however differs from the former in having fasciculate to loosely aggregated synnemata, hyaline conidia and un th ick en ed conidia]
septa.
Vittalui & H elicu m u from h ,. . 2 9 9 Ha
(P <3
Fig. 1. Helicoma inciicum. Conidiophores, conidiogenous cells and conidia.
septate cbnidia. These characters support its placement in the~ genus Helicoma Corda, typified by H. muelleri C orda (C orda 1837), w hich presently accom m odates about 50 species {Index F ungorum 2006). Pirozynski (1972) proposed to accom m odate the species of Helicoma into two g roups based on th e ir m ode o f conidiogeaesis. He included those with acrogenous conidia p roduced on sym podial, denticulate conidiogenous cells in the first group w hile species that produced hyaline, m uitiseptate, pleurogenous conidia on tooth-like conidiogenous cells borne on setiform conidiophores in the second (Pirozynski 1972). Following his scheme, we p ropose to place o u r fungus in the second group.
V i tt u lm & H e lic o m a f r o m i n d t ^ J ' j O l
Figs. 3-9. Vi I tali a indica. 3. Mycdcoid conidiophores (bars= 20|im) 4-6. M onotretic conidiogenous cells (bars= lO^im). 7-9. Allantoid 3-septate conidia (bars= 5 jim). 10-15. Helicoma indicum.
10,11. Conidiophores in fascicles with attached conidia (bars= 20 (jm), 12. Polyblastic denticulate conidiogenous cclls(bar= 10 (im). 13-15. Hclicoid unisepate conidia (bar= 5 ^tm).
Helicoma indicum- aiffers from the o th e r morphologically sim ilar genus Helicomyces in its non-hygroscopic nature o f conidia and in being thicker in proportion to the length of the conidial filament.
UsingrDNA sequence analysis of helicosporous fungi, Tsui & Barbee (2006) and Tsui et al. (2006) inferred that this group of anam orphic fungi is polyphyletic and that the lack o f monophyly is due to the inefficiency o f th e traditionally used morphological characters to delimit the genera. They said that, though n o single m orphological character perfectly correlates with the clades of the phylogenetic tree obtained during the study, a com bination o f characters such as conidiophore color, conidial color and conidial ontogeny are phylogenetically informative. They further suggested that characters such as prom inence of conidiophores, thickness of conidial filaments and hygroscopic nature of conidia are m ore useful for species delim itation than for p redicting higher level relationships. This has challenged the existing taxonomic an d nom endatural status of helicosporous fungi. In any case, until a thorough revision of the group is made, th e existing genera are considered valid. In th e present setup, we would like to accom m odate our fungus as a new species in th e genus Helicoma following the morphological characters as m entioned in th e generic description.
TV. o » n tp S p jfe rt & Gams (2001): ‘Identification o f m ost o f th e fungi is made using morphological characters, although the age of m olecular biology provides us with molecujar diagnostics. Using m orphological characters, anam orph genera can be delim ited that are practical for identification purposes, and are often (but not always) phylogenetically natural’.
Acknowledgments
DJB is thankful to the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, for a research grant support and the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for a DRS level Special Assistance Programme to the Department of Botany, Goa University. Sri K.O. Isaac, ABL Biotechnologies. Chennai, India, is thanked for logistic support during the field trip to N-E India. PG is thankful to the MOENF, New Delhi, for a research scholarship. We are indebted to Drs. B. Kendrick (University of Victoria, B.C., Canada) and R. Goos (University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rl, USA), for kindly reviewing the manuscript and giving valuable suggestions.
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