Xylaria nanningensis W. Y. Zeng & Q. R. Li 2024, sp. nov.

Xylaria nanningensis W. Y. Zeng & Q. R. Li sp. nov. Fig. 3 Etymology. The specific epithet refers to its collection location, Nanning City. Type. China. • Guangxi Province, Nanning City, Liangfengjiang National For-est Park, 22 ° 43 ' 28 ″ N, 108 ° 16 ' 59 ″ E, elev. 97 m, on fallen leaves of unknown plants, August 2023, Wenyu Zeng & Xin Zhou, LFJ 1 (GMB 4702 Holotype; KUN - HKAS 134916 Isotype; GMBC 4702 ex-type). Description. Saprobic on fallen leaves of unknown plants. Sexual morph: Stromata 1.1–2.8 cm in total length, solitary, upright, unbranched, with capitate fertile apex, head conical to subglobose 0.5–1.2 mm diam × 0.5–1.8 mm thick, consists of closely packed perithecia, surface black, rounded, on a long stipe, slightly swollen at base, rough. Externally black, interior white, texture soft. Stipes thin, glabrous, up to 2 cm long. Perithecia 85–395 μm diam., oval to spherical, embedded, closely arranged, interior white. Ostioles slightly papillate. Asci 114–156 × 6.8–13.6 μm (x ̄ = 135 × 10.2 μm, n = 30), 8 - spored, unitunicate, cylindrical, apically rounded, with an inverted hat shaped apical apparatus, blue staining in Melzer’s reagent, 5.2–5.7 × 4.9–5.4 μm (x ̄ = 5.5 × 5.2 μm, n = 30). Ascospores 15.0–24.1 × 4.4–7.4 μm (x ̄ = 19.0 × 5.5 μm, n = 30), uniseriate, unicellular, hyaline when immature, slight brown to dark brown at maturity, ellipsoid-inequilateral, with rounded ends, smooth, each end surround a round sheath, up to 5 × 5 μm, lacking germ slit; epispore smooth. Asexual morph: Undetermined. Culture characteristics. Colonies on OA reaching 3–4 cm diam. after 2 weeks at 25 ° C, white at first, with irregular margins, then extension spreading toward the edge of the Petri dish; the overall color is light white. Additional material examined. China. • Guangxi Province, Nanning City, Liangfengjiang National Forest Park, 22 ° 43 ' 28 ″ N, 108 ° 16 ' 59 ″ E, elev. 207 m, on fallen leaves of unknown plants, August 2023, Wenyu Zeng & Xin Zhou, LFJ 1-1 (GMB 4706; GMBC 4706). Notes. In the phylogram (Fig. 1), it is closely related to X. ficicola. The latter can be distinguished by the size of stromata stipe, asci and ascospores (Pan et al. 2022). Xylaria nanningensis has less than 2 cm long stipe (vs. up to 6 cm long in X. ficicola), asci measuring 114–156 × 6.8–13.6 μm (vs. 190–220 × 8–10 μm in X. ficicola) and ascospores measuring 15.0–24.1 × 4.4–7.4 μm (vs. 16–22.7 × 6.5–8.5 μm in X. ficicola). Moreover, the apical apparatus of the new species is slightly smaller (5.2–5.7 × 4.9–5.4 μm vs. 5–7.5 × 3–3.5 μm) (Ma et al. 2011). Morphologically, X. nanningensis is similar to X. guazumae F. San Martín & J. D. Rogers (San and Rogers 1989), but the latter grows on the fallen fruits of Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. (Sterculiaceae) and has relatively smaller ascospores (14–19 × 5.5–6 μm) and smaller rectangular apical ring (2.8–3.2 × 2–2.5 μm) (San and Rogers 1989). Another morphologically close species is X. polysporicola Hai X. Ma & X. Y. Pan, but the latter can be distinguished by its stromata which has acute sterile apex up to 2 mm long, fertile part 2–15 mm long × 0.5–1.6 mm diam. (vs. fertile apex 0.5–1.2 mm long × 0.5–1 mm diam), and smaller ascospores (11.5–15 × 5.5–8 µm) with a straight germ slit (Pan et al. 2022).