Phialoparvum sinense H. Pan & Zhi. Y. Zhang 2025, sp. nov.

Phialoparvum sinense H. Pan & Zhi. Y. Zhang sp. nov. Fig. 3 Type. China • Guizhou Province, Guiyang City, Xiuwen County, Zhazuo Town, Guizhou Wildlife Park, 26.85°N, 106.69°E, soil, 25 May 2022, Zhi-Yuan Zhang (holotype HMAS 353384, dried culture; culture ex-type CGMCC 3.27537, ibid., ZY 22.078). Etymology. The epithet “ sinense ” (Lat.) refers to China, where the species was collected. Description. Culture characteristics (14 days at 25 ° C): Colony on PDA 67–69 mm diam. white aluminum to grey-white from center to margin, flocculent, subcircular, margin regular; reverse: tele grey to grey-white from center to margin. Colony on OA 58–60 mm diam. white, flocculent, subcircular, margin regular; reverse: white. Colony on SNA 25–27 mm diam. white, flattened, hyphae sparse; reverse: white. Mycelium consisting of branched, septate, hyaline, and smooth-walled hyphae, 1–3 μm wide. Conidiophores solitary, erect, arising directly from vegetative hyphae or ropes of hyphae, unbranched or poorly branched. Phialides lateral, terminal, subulate, hyaline, smooth-walled, 8.5–50.5 × 1–3 μm, with cylindrical collarette and conspicuous periclinal thickening at the conidiogenous locus; adelophialides sometimes present, up to 4 μm long; polyphialides with two conidiogenous loci are occasionally present. Conidia arranged in slimy heads, obovate with slightly obtuse base, sometimes cylindrical with slightly obtuse base, 1 - celled, hyaline, smooth-walled, 2–6.5 × 1–3 μm (av. 4.5 × 2, n = 50). Sexual morph undetermined. Geographical distribution. Guizhou Province, China. Additional material examined. China • Guizhou Province, Guiyang City, Xiuwen County, Zhazuo Town, Guizhou Wildlife Park, 26.85°N, 106.69°E, soil, 25 May 2022, Z. Y. Zhang, ZY 22.079, ibid., ZY 22.080, and ZY 22.081. Notes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that four new isolates (CGMCC 3.27537, ZY 22.079, ZY 22.080, and ZY 22.081) clustered in a single subclade with high support values (100 / 1) and were nested in Phialoparvum s. str. (Fig. 1). Morphologically, Ph. sinense differs from other species in the genus Phialoparvum in that it produces obovate conidia and longer phialides (Giraldo and Crous 2019; Giraldo et al. 2019). In addition, they can be distinguished by their low sequence similarities. In a comparison of ITS, LSU, rpb 2, and tef- 1 α nucleotides, Ph. sinense (ex-type CGMCC 3.27537) has 95.3 %, 97.2 %, 93.5 %, and 96.3 % similarity in ITS (469 / 492 bp, seven gaps), LSU (773 / 795 bp, four gaps), rpb 2 (262 / 280 bp, no gap), and tef- 1 α (758 / 787 bp, no gap), which is different from Ph. bifurcatum (ex-type CBS 299.70 B). In a comparison of ITS, LSU, and rpb 2 nucleotides, Ph. sinense (CGMCC 3.27537) has 96.5 %, 98.1 %, and 91.9 % similarity in ITS (453 / 469 bp, four gaps), LSU (778 / 793 bp, no gap), and rpb 2 (751 / 817 bp, no gap), which is different from Ph. maaspleinense (ex-type CBS 145321). In a comparison of ITS, LSU, and rpb 2 nucleotides, Ph. sinense (CGMCC 3.27537) has 96.6 %, 98.3 %, and 92.7 % similarity in ITS (483 / 500 bp, five gaps), LSU (780 / 793 bp, no gap), and rpb 2 (694 / 748 bp, no gap), which is different from Ph. rietveltiae (ex-type CBS 145322).