Paecilomyces lagunculariae (C. Ram) Houbraken, Frisvad & Samson, Studies

Yang, Erfu, Karunarathna, Samantha C., Shao, Shicheng, Han, Lisu, Samarakoon, Milan C., Elgorban, Abdallah M., Chiu, Chuni, Tibpromma, Saowaluck & Promputtha, Itthayakorn, 2025, Additions to Termitomyces aurantiacus growing termite comb-associated fungi, Phytotaxa 690 (2), pp. 212-230 : 220-221

Paecilomyces lagunculariae (C. Ram) Houbraken, Frisvad & Samson, Studies in Mycology 95: 90 (2020)

Index Fungorum number: IF832559

Harboured in termite fungus gardens. Hyphae 3–6 μm (x = 3.8 μm, n = 20) wide, branched, septate, obviously constricted at the septa, thick-walled, hyaline to whitish, slightly verruculose to granular, with obtuse ends. Asexual morph: Undetermined. Sexual morph: Ascomata devoid in culture. Asci 8–12 × 7–10 μm (x = 10 × 8.5 μm, n = 20), eight-spored, thin-walled, subglobose to irregular, impedicellate. Ascospores 4–5 × 3–4 μm (x = 4.5 × 3 μm, n = 20), subglobose to obovoid, smooth, hyaline to pale brown.

Culture characteristics: Colonies exhibit rapid growth on PDA, reaching 80 mm diam after one month. Obverse: effuse, circular, lowly dense, brown, rough, dull. Reverse: pale brown. No pigments are produced in PDA.

Substrata: Wood of Laguncularia ( Ram 1968) ; pasteurized drink yogurt, mushroom bed ( Samson et al. 2009); geaster in spirit, raw material of fruit jelly products, spoiled health food, milk of cow, pasteurized strawberries, unknown source ( Ueda et al. 2010); termite fungus garden (this study).

Distribution: Brazil ( Ram 1968); Belgium ( Samson et al. 2009); France, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA ( Ueda et al. 2010); China ( Samson et al. 2009; this study).

Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, isolated from active termite combs, 20 July 2022, E. F. Yang, SM. ( HKAS 129048), living culture KUNCC 22-12516. GenBank numbers, ITS: PP915825, tub2: PP918924.

Notes: The ITS, LSU, and tub2 genes of our isolate KUNCC 22-12516 were subjected to a BLASTn search, and the results confirmed 99% to 100% similarity to Paecilomyces lagunculariae ( CBS: 134.37, BCC 14366, G 6, SUM 3338). The phylogenetic analysis also revealed our isolate clusters with Paecilomyces lagunculariae ( SUM 3338), even though a little bit away from Pa. lagunculariae ( CBS 373.70, CBS 696.95). Our isolate KUNCC 22-12516 has a similar ascospore length with Paecilomyces lagunculariae (3.8–5 × 3–3.9 vs. 4–5× 3–4 μm), and sexual morph characteristics such as mycelium, asci, ascospores of our isolate also fully matched with the sexual morph concept of Paecilomyces ( Ram 1968, Samson et al. 2009). Therefore, we introduce Paecilomyces lagunculariae ( KUNCC 22- 12516) from termite fungus gardens for the first time ( Figure 6 )

Pleurostoma Tul. & C. Tul., Selecta Fungorum Carpologia, Tomus Secundus. Xylariei—Valsei — Sphaeriei 2: 247 (1863)

Index Fungorum number: IF4247

Type species: Pleurostoma candollei Tul. & C. Tul., Selecta Fungorum Carpologia, Tomus Secundus. Xylariei-Valsei- Sphaeriei 2: 247 (1863)

Notes: Pleurostoma currently accommodates six species, often saprophytic on wood materials, sewage, and soil or parasitic on humans, and have been reported in countries including China, Iran, Spain, and Sri Lanka ( Yang et al. 2022). The teleomorph of Pleurostoma was characterized by having obovoid, club-shaped, pedicellate asci that contain allantoid, aseptate, hyaline, and very sinuous ascospores, paraphyses were always not observed ( Huang et al. 2021). The anamorph of Pleurostoma was reported with hyaline conidia, whose shape varies from oval to suballantoid, straight to gently curved, without septum, and smooth ( Huang et al. 2021). The phylogram of the genus Pleurostoma is presented in Figure 7 .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Paecilomyces lagunculariae (HKAS129048): (a) Colony on PDA, (b–d,f) Mycelium with asci, (e,g) Asci, (h,i) Ascospores.

FIGURE 7. Phylogram of Pleurostoma constructed using maximum likelihood analysis, based on a combined LSU, SSU, ITS, and tub2 sequence dataset. The analysis encompassed 28 strains and a total of 1605 characters (LSU: 1–565 bp, SSU: 566–1593 bp, ITS: 1594–2174 bp, tub2: 2175–2647 bp). Newly introduced species are highlighted in red, and the type strains are indicated in bold. Bootstrap values equal to or higher than 60% (ML, left) and Bayesian posterior probabilities equal to or higher than 0.95 (BI, right) are indicated at the nodes, while hyphens (-) denote values below these thresholds for ML/BI.