Airborne DNA reveals predictable spatial and seasonal dynamics of fungi.

Fungi are among the most diverse and ecologically important kingdoms in life. However, the distributional ranges of fungi remain largely unknown as do the ecological mechanisms that shape their distributions1,2. To provide an integrated view of the spatial and seasonal dynamics of fungi, we implemented a globally distributed standardized aerial sampling of fungal spores3. The vast majority of operational taxonomic units were detected within only one climatic zone, and the spatiotemporal patterns of species richness and community composition were mostly explained by annual mean air temperature. Tropical regions hosted the highest fungal diversity except for lichenized, ericoid mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi, which reached their peak diversity in temperate regions. The sensitivity in climatic responses was associated with phylogenetic relatedness, suggesting that large-scale distributions of some fungal groups are partially constrained by their ancestral niche. There was a strong phylogenetic signal in seasonal sensitivity, suggesting that some groups of fungi have retained their ancestral trait of sporulating for only a short period. Overall, our results show that the hyperdiverse kingdom of fungi follows globally highly predictable spatial and temporal dynamics, with seasonality in both species richness and community composition increasing with latitude. Our study reports patterns resembling those described for other major groups of organisms, thus making a major contribution to the long-standing debate on whether organisms with a microbial lifestyle follow the global biodiversity paradigms known for macroorganisms4,5

A new genus of Bambusicolaceae (Pleosporales) on Corylus avellana (Fagales) from Italy

In this study, we introduce Corylicola gen. nov. in the family of Bambusicolaceae (Pleosporales), to accommodate Corylicola italica sp. nov. The new species was isolated from dead branches of Corylus avellana (common hazel) in Italy. The discovery of this new genus with both sexual and asexual characters will contribute to expand the knowledge and taxonomic framework of Bambusicolaceae.Corylicola gen. nov. has similar morphological characters compared to other genera of Bambusicolaceae. These are solitary, scattered, globose to subglobose and ostiolate ascomata; anastomosing and branching pseudoparaphyses; cylindrical asci with a well-developed ocular chamber and short furcate pedicel; and single-septate ascospores. The coelomycetous asexual morph of Corylicola has holoblastic, phialidic conidiogenous cells and light brown conidia analogous to other members in the family. Corylicola differs from the other genera of Bambusicolaceae in having yellowish-brown ascospore masses at the top of the ascomatal neck. Detailed morphological illustrations with comprehensive descriptions for the new taxa are provided, as well as a key to the genera of Bambusicolaceae. Maximum Likelihood analysis and Bayesian Inference of a combined SSU, LSU, ITS, RPB2 and TEF1 sequence dataset confirms the placement of this genus as a distinct lineage in Bambusicolaceae

Bimuria D. Hawksw., Chea & Sheridan, N. Z. Jl Bot.

<i>Bimuria</i> D. Hawksw., Chea & Sheridan, N.Z. Jl Bot. 17(3): 267 (1979) <i>amend</i>. <p> <i>Saprobic</i> in terrestrial habitats. <b>Sexual morph:</b> See Hawksworth <i>et al</i>. (1979) and Ariyawansa <i>et al</i>. (2014a). <b>Asexual morph:</b> Coelomycetous. <i>Conidiomata</i> pycnidial, arise on mycelia as black spore mass, aggregated clusters are scattered, irregular and superficial to semi-immersed. <i>Conidiomatal wall</i> composed of thick walled, pale to dark brown cells of <i>textura angularis</i>. <i>Conidiogenous cells</i> enteroblastic, phialidic, ampulliform or short cylindrical, determinate, sometimes cylindrical, elongated neck, rough and hyaline. <i>Conidia</i> oblong to cylindrical, 1-septate, smooth and thin-walled, pale brown to hyaline.</p> <p> Type species:— <i>Bimuria novae -zelandiae</i> D. Hawksw., Chea & Sheridan, N.Z. Jl Bot. 17(3): 268 (1979)</p> <p> Notes:—Hawksworth <i>et al</i>. (1979)introduced <i>Bimuria</i> and it was placed in Pleosporaceae based on its sexual morphology. Based on phylogenetic analysis of SSU, LSU, RPB2 and TEF1-α sequence data, Schoch <i>et al</i>. (2009) and Ariyawansa <i>et al</i>. (2014a) confirmed that the <i>Bimuria novae-zelandiae</i> (CBS 107.79) should be placed in Montagnulaceae (= Didymosphaeriaceae) and related to <i>Tremateia</i>. In this current study, we observed that our novel strain (SQUCC 15280) clusters with <i>Bimuria novae-zelandiae</i> with strong bootstrap support in our phylogenetic analyses (Fig. 1). Therefore, we conclude that it is appropriate to consider our isolate as a species in <i>Bimuria</i>. <i>Bimuria</i> was only known from its sexual morph and we amend <i>Bimuria</i> in order to accommodate its coelomycetous asexual morph from our novel taxonomic account.</p>Published as part of <i>Wijesinghe, Subodini N., Wanasinghe, Dhanushka N., Maharachchikumbura, Sajeewa S. N., Wang, Yong, Al-Sadi, Abdullah M. & Hyde, Kevin D., 2020, Bimuria omanensis sp. nov. (Didymosphaeriaceae, Pleosporales) from Oman, pp. 97-108 in Phytotaxa 449 (2)</i> on pages 103-104, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.449.2.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/5585894">http://zenodo.org/record/5585894</a&gt

Bimuria omanensis Wijesinghe, Wanas., Al-Sadi, K. D. Hyde & Maharachch. 2020, sp. nov.

Bimuria omanensis Wijesinghe, Wanas., Al-Sadi, K.D. Hyde & Maharachch., sp. nov. Index Fungorum number: IF557436; Facesoffungi number: FoF 07928; FIGURE 2. Etymology:—Name reflects the county Oman, from where the species was isolated. Holotype:— SQU H-115 Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiomata pycnidial, arise on mycelia as black spore mass, aggregated clusters are scattered, irregular and superficial to semi-immersed. Conidiomatal wall composed of thick-walled, pale to dark brown cells of textura angularis. Conidiogenous cells 8–9 × 7–8 µm (x̄ = 8.36 × 7.6 µm, n=10), enteroblastic, phialidic, ampulliform or short cylindrical, determinate, sometimes cylindrical, with elongate neck, rough and hyaline. Conidia 7–10 × 3–4.5 µm (x̄ = 8.84 × 3.94 µm, n = 25) oblong to cylindrical, 1- septate, smooth and thin walled, hyaline to pale brown. Culture characteristics:—Colonies on PDA reaching 60 mm diam. after 14 days at 24 °C, dark grey to brown in upper surface. Known distribution:— Oman (this study) Material examined:— OMAN, The Jebel Akhdar, Dakhiliyah Governorat, on decaying leaves of unidentified plant, July 2016, SSN Maharachchikumbura OM09 (SQU H-115, holotype), ex-type living culture SQUCC 15280. Gene sequence data: ITS (MT274326), LSU (MT271820), TEF-1α (MT279046) Notes:—In our DNA sequence analysis, Bimuria novae-zelandiae (CBS 107.79) and B. omanensis (SQUCC 15280) are monophyletic with strong bootstrap support (Fig. 1). Morphological comparison between these taxa are currently impossible as B. novae-zelandiae is known from its sexual morph and only the asexual morph is known for B. omanensis. Comparison of the 570 ITS (+ 5.8S) nucleotides of these strains reveals 70 (12.3%) nucleotide differences. This could be due to ITS polymorphisms (Stadler et al. 2020) and it is not surprising that these strains appear to belong to the same species. A comparison of the 852 nucleotides across the TEF-1α region revealed 32 bp (3.75%) differences between these strains suggesting these are distinct species (Jeewon & Hyde 2016). Bimuria novae-zelandiae was isolated from soil of a barley field in New Zealand (Hawksworth et al. 1979). Bimuria omanensis was collected from a decaying leaf of a desert shrub in Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate, Oman. Therefore, based on the molecular data and habitat differences, we conclude that these two taxa are distinct species. Didymosporina aceris, Gordonomyces mucovaginatus and Lichenodiplis lecanorae share similar conidial morphology to Bimuria omanensis (Wijayawardene et al. 2016). Phylogenetically Gordonomyces mucovaginatus and Lichenodiplis lecanorae are not closely related to Bimuria omanensis (data not shown) and sequence data are unavailable for Didymosporina aceris.Published as part of Wijesinghe, Subodini N., Wanasinghe, Dhanushka N., Maharachchikumbura, Sajeewa S. N., Wang, Yong, Al-Sadi, Abdullah M. & Hyde, Kevin D., 2020, Bimuria omanensis sp. nov. (Didymosphaeriaceae, Pleosporales) from Oman, pp. 97-108 in Phytotaxa 449 (2) on page 104, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.449.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/558589

Additions to Italian Pleosporinae, including Italica heraclei sp. nov

Our investigation on pleosporalean fungi from terrestrial habitats in provinces of Arezzo, Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna in Italy yielded a novel species, Italica heraclei (Phaeosphaeriaceae), a new host record of Pseudoophiobolus mathieui (Phaeosphaeriaceae) and the second Italian record of Phomatodes nebulosa (Didymellaceae). Species boundaries were defined using detailed morphological illustrations, comprehensive descriptions and multi-gene phylogeny of maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian posterior probability (BI) analysis. Our findings expanded the knowledge on host and distribution ranges of the newly isolated pleosporalean taxa in Italy.8s

Redined families of Dothideomycetes: orders and families incertain in Dothideomycetes

peer reviewedNumerous new taxa and classifications of Dothideomycetes have been published following the last monograph of families of Dothideomycetes in 2013. A recent publication by Honsanan et al. in 2020 expanded information of families in Dothideo- mycetidae and Pleosporomycetidae with modern classifications. In this paper, we provide a refined updated document on orders and families incertae sedis of Dothideomycetes. Each family is provided with an updated description, notes, including figures to represent the morphology, a list of accepted genera, and economic and ecological significances. We also provide phylogenetic trees for each order. In this study, 31 orders which consist 50 families are assigned as orders incertae sedis in Dothideomycetes, and 41 families are treated as families incertae sedis due to lack of molecular or morphological evidence. The new order, Catinellales, and four new families, Catinellaceae, Morenoinaceae Neobuelliellaceae and Thyrinulaceae are introduced. Seven genera (Neobuelliella, Pseudomicrothyrium, Flagellostrigula, Swinscowia, Macroconstrictolumina, Pseudobogoriella, and Schummia) are introduced. Seven new species (Acrospermum urticae, Bogoriella complexoluminata, Dothiorella ostryae, Dyfrolomyces distoseptatus, Macroconstrictolumina megalateralis, Patellaria microspora, and Pseu- domicrothyrium thailandicum) are introduced base on morphology and phylogeny, together with two new records/reports and five new collections from different families. Ninety new combinations are also provided in this paper

Fungal diversity notes 1151-1276: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

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Fungal diversity notes 1512–1610: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

International audienc

Global Spore Sampling Project: A global, standardized dataset of airborne fungal DNA.

Novel methods for sampling and characterizing biodiversity hold great promise for re-evaluating patterns of life across the planet. The sampling of airborne spores with a cyclone sampler, and the sequencing of their DNA, have been suggested as an efficient and well-calibrated tool for surveying fungal diversity across various environments. Here we present data originating from the Global Spore Sampling Project, comprising 2,768 samples collected during two years at 47 outdoor locations across the world. Each sample represents fungal DNA extracted from 24 m3 of air. We applied a conservative bioinformatics pipeline that filtered out sequences that did not show strong evidence of representing a fungal species. The pipeline yielded 27,954 species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Each OTU is accompanied by a probabilistic taxonomic classification, validated through comparison with expert evaluations. To examine the potential of the data for ecological analyses, we partitioned the variation in species distributions into spatial and seasonal components, showing a strong effect of the annual mean temperature on community composition