Pestalotiopsis massoniana Q. C. Wang & X. D. Zhou, 2025

Wang, Quan Chao, Zhan, Zhao Jie, Sattar, Adil, Wang, Hao Nan, Zhou, Li Feng, Eckhardt, Lori, Li, Guo Qing, Liu, Fei Fei, Xu, Hua Chao & Zhou, Xu Dong, 2025, Pestalotiopsis (Amphisphaeriales, Sporocadaceae) species including six new taxa inhabiting pines from different climate zones in China, IMA Fungus 16, pp. e 151614-e 151614 : e151614-

Pestalotiopsis massoniana Q. C. Wang & X. D. Zhou sp. nov.

Fig. 10

Etymology.

Named after the host, Pinus massoniana .

Typus.

CHINA • Guangdong Province, Jiangmen City, Taishan County, Chixi Town , 21°53'10"N, 112°57'0"E, on diseased needle of Pinus massoniana , 28 August 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guoqing Li, Feifei Liu & Yuhua Liang (holotype designated here HMAS 353942 , dried culture prepared from ZXD 955; ex-holotype culture ZXD 955 = CFCC 72593 ) .

Description.

Sexual state not seen. Conidiomata in culture sporodochial, saucer-shaped, scattered or gregarious, superficial to immersed, shining, releasing black conidial masses on the surface. Conidiophores branched, subcylindrical, hyaline to light brown, indistinct, often reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells cylindrical or ampulliform, hyaline, smooth-walled, solitary to aggregated, (6 –) 7–10.5 (– 13) × (2 –) 2.5–3.5 (– 4) μm (x ± SD = 8.9 ± 1.8 × 3.1 ± 0.5 μm). Conidia fusoid, ellipsoid, smooth, slightly constricted at the septa, 4 - septate, (17 –) 18–20 (– 21) × (5 –) 5.5–6.5 (– 7) μm (x ± SD = 19.1 ± 1.1 × 6.2 ± 0.5 μm); three median cells doliiform, wall verruculose, concolourous, (10.5 –) 12–14 (– 16) μm (x ± SD = 12.9 ± 1.1 μm) long; second cell from the base (3 –) 4–5 μm (x ± SD = 4.4 ± 0.4 μm) long; third cell (3 –) 3.5–4.5 (– 5) μm (x ± SD = 4 ± 0.4 μm); fourth cell (3 –) 4–5 (– 7) μm (x ± SD = 4.5 ± 0.7 μm); apical cell conic with an acute apex, thin- and smooth-walled, hyaline to pale brown, (2 –) 2.5–4 (– 4.5) μm (x ± SD = 3.3 ± 0.6 μm) long, with 2–3 tubular appendages (mostly three); apical appendages arising from an apical crest, unbranched, filiform, bent, (2.7 –) 6.5–13 (– 18) μm (x ± SD = 9.8 ± 3.3 μm); basal cell obconic with a truncate base, thin-walled, hyaline or pale brown, 2.5–4 (– 6.5) μm (x ± SD = 3.4 ± 0.8 μm) long, with one appendage; basal appendage tubular, centric appendage tubular, unbranched, occasionally swollen at the tip, (1.5 –) 2–4 (– 4.5) μm (x ± SD = 2.9 ± 0.9 μm) long.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies forming abundant flocculent aerial mycelium on PDA at 25 ° C, with regular margins at the edges, with a white appearance, while the reverse side of the colony displayed a light orange colour and forming black conidiomata with black conidial masses. Optimal growth temperature at 25 ° C, no growth at 5 ° C and 35 ° C; after 10 d, colonies at 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 ° C reached 28.0, 48.6, 70.5, 81.5 and 63.8 mm, respectively (Fig. 8 ).

Additional materials examined.

CHINA • Guangdong Province, Jiangmen City, Taishan County, Chixi Town , 21°53'10"N, 112°57'0"E, on diseased needle of P. massoniana , 28 August 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guoqing Li, Feifei Liu & Yuhua Liang (culture ZXD 956) .

Notes.

Pestalotiopsis massoniana forms a well-supported independent clade (ML / BI = 100 / 1) and is phylogenetically distinct from Pes. alpinicola , Pes. dracontomelon , Pes. lithocarpi and Pes. sabal . (Fig. 3 ). In detail, Pes. massoniana was distinguished from Pes. alpinicola , Pes. dracontomelon , Pes. lithocarpi and Pes. sabal in ITS ( Pes. alpinicola : 3 bp, Pes. dracontomelon : 3 bp, Pes. lithocarpi : 4 bp, Pes. sabal : 4 bp); tef 1 - α gene ( Pes. alpinicola : 22 bp, Pes. dracontomelon : 30 bp, Pes. lithocarpi : 27 bp, Pes. sabal : 24 bp); tub 2 gene ( Pes. alpinicola : 0 bp, Pes. dracontomelon : no data, Pes. lithocarpi : 1 bp, Pes. sabal : 2 bp). Morphologically, Pes. massoniana shares comparable conidial dimensions with congeners, but exhibits diagnostically shorter apical appendages from Pes. dracontomelon and Pes. lithocarpi ( Pes. massoniana : 10.5–16 μm; Pes. dracontomelon : 13–17 μm; Pes. lithocarpi : 12.5–14.5 μm). Similarly, Pes. massoniana possesses significantly shorter basal appendages compared to Pes. alpinicola , Pes. dracontomelon and Pes. sabal ( Pes. massoniana : 1.5–4.5 μm; Pes. alpinicola : 3.6–6.2 μm, Pes. dracontomelon : 2–7 μm, Pes. sabal : 3–5.5 μm). Based on both phylogenetic and morphological evidence, we propose the recognition of Pes. massoniana as a novel species.

Figures

Figure 3. Phylogenetic trees based on Maximum Likelihood (ML) analyses from the multi-gene alignment (ITS, tef- 1 α and tub 2) for Pestalotiopsis. The ML bootstrap values (left; values of ≥ 60 % are shown, < 60 % are marked with * and absence is marked with -) and Bayesian posterior probabilities (right; values of ≥ 0.9 are shown, < 0.9 are marked with * and absence is marked with -) are indicated above the branches. Isolates representing ex-type material are marked with “ T ”. Neopestalotiopsis magna (MFLUCC 12-0652) was used as the outgroup taxon.

Figure 8. Effect of temperature on mycelial radial growth of isolates of six new Pestalotiopsis species obtained in the current study. Vertical bars represent the standard error of the means. Each value represents the average of five replicates.

Figure 10. Morphology of Pestalotiopsis massoniana (ZXD 955). A Colony on MEA after 10 days at 25 ° C; B colony on PDA after 10 days at 25 ° C; C conidiomata formed on MEA; D, E conidiogenous cells giving rise to conidia; F – K conidia. Scale bars: 500 μm (C); 20 μm (D – G).