Stagonospora endophytica H. Liu & H. Sang, 2025

Liu, Haifeng, Choi, Hyeongju, Paul, Narayan Chandra, Ariyawansa, Hiran A. & Sang, Hyunkyu, 2025, Discovering fungal communities in roots of Zoysia japonica and characterising novel species and their antifungal activities, IMA Fungus 16, pp. e 138479-e 138479 : e138479-

Stagonospora endophytica H. Liu & H. Sang sp. nov.

Fig. 16

Etymology.

Name refers to endophyte.

Description from living culture CMML 20-37 .

Sexual morph: undetermined. Asexual morph: Sporulation observed on MEA. Conidiomata globose, dark brown, 73–105 μm diam. (Fig. 16 b – f ). Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells 5–8.5 × 4–7.5 μm, hyaline, smooth, ampulliform, produced from the inner wall of conidiomata (Fig. 16 g ). Conidia smooth, 1–3 septate, globose or ellipsoidal with obtuse ends, constricted at septa, 15–22 × 7–9 μm (Fig. 16 h – l ).

Type.

Korea • South Jeolla Province, Hwasun , isolated from roots of Zoysia japonica , October 2020, H. Liu and H. Sang, holotype CMML 20-37 H (permanently preserved in a metabolically inactive state), ex-holotype CMML 20-37 , ex-isotype CMML 20-93 .

Culture characteristics.

Colony reaching the edge of the PDA plates (90 mm) after 7 days in darkness at 25 ° C, front side white to yellowish, centre brown, reverse side faint yellow (Fig. 16 a ).

Notes.

Phylogenetic analysis of Stagonospora was performed using sequences of ITS, SSU, LSU, RPB 2 and TUB 2. Strains in the present study CMML 20-37 and CMML 20-93 fell into a distinct single clade, supported by a high statistical support (100 % / 1.00) (Fig. 17 ), sister to clade comprising ex-type strain of S. tauntonensis ( BRIP 70573 ) and representative strains of S. tauntonensis ( BRIP 70684 ), S. bicolor ( ATCC 42652 ) and S. poaceicola ( NCYUCC 19-0350 ). In morphology, these two strains differ from S. tauntonensis ( Crous et al. 2022 b) and S. bicolor (previously Leptosphaeria bicolor ; Kaiser et al. (1979)) in having globose conidia and visible contraction at septa of conidia. For S. poaceicola , sexual morph was described and asexual morph of this species remains undetermined. Thus, based on phylogenetic analysis and morphological characteristics, Stagonospora endophytica sp. nov. was introduced in this study.

Figures

Figure 16. Stagonospora endophytica sp. nov. (CMML 20-37) a front and reverse sides of colony on PDA b, c conidiomata produced on MEA d – f section of conidiomata g conidiogenous cell (indicated by arrows) with developing conidia h – l conidia. Scale bars: 40 μm (b – d); 20 μm (e); 50 μm (f); 12 μm (g); 10 μm (h – l).

Figure 17. Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree, based on combined sequences of ITS, SSU, LSU, RPB 2 and TUB 2 from Stagonospora species. Bootstrap values (BS) and Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP) are given at the nodes (BS / PP). Strains obtained from this study are in bold blue. Ex-type isolates are marked with T. Massarina cisti (CBS 266.62) was used as the outgroup taxon.