Diversity of Lignicolous Freshwater Fungi from Sohag Governorate, Egypt, with the Description of a New Record: Minutisphaera aspera

This study investigated the diversity of lignicolous freshwater fungi on submerged decaying wood from four plant species: Salix alba, Ziziphus spina-christi, Phoenix dactylifera, and Phragmites australis. Random sampling and baiting techniques were employed in the Nile River and irrigation canals at Sohag Governorate, Egypt, between February 2021 and September 2022. A total of 126 fungal taxa were identified, comprising 48 sexual ascomycetes, 73 asexual ascomycetes, and five Basidiomycetes from 4,448 fungal collections recorded from 1,410 submerged samples. Among the 126 taxa recorded, 17 represent new records for Egypt, including four species that are new to science. Asexual taxa predominated in the fungal community, with a ratio of asexual ascomycetes taxa to sexual ascomycetes of 1.5/1.0. The fungi were mainly distributed within the classes Sordariomycetes (52%) and Dothideomycetes (44%). The number of fungi recorded from Sohag Nile River, EL-Maragha Nile River and EL-Maragha irrigation canal were 98, 97, and 77, respectively. Dictyocheirospora heptaspora was the only species common to all three sites. Fifty-five species were consistently recorded across the three studied sites. One hundred and two taxa were identified from baited samples, while 99 were identified from randomly collected samples. Frequent species included Dictyocheirospora heptaspora (20%), Pseudohalonectria lignicola (17%), Ophioceras commune (16%), Zopfiella latipes (14%), Limnoperdon incarnatum (13%), and Hapalosphaeria deformans (12%). Minutisphaera aspera was reported for the first time in Egypt during this study. Phylogenetic analyses of ITS rDNA sequence data, along with morphological characteristics, were used to identify the new collection.