Paragibellulopsis sinensis H. Pan & Zhi. Y. Zhang 2025, sp. nov.

Paragibellulopsis sinensis H. Pan & Zhi. Y. Zhang sp. nov. Fig. 2 Type. China • Beijing, Xishan National Forest Park, 39.97°N, 116.20°E, soil, 4 June 2024, Zhi-Yuan Zhang (holotype HMAS 353383, dried culture; culture ex-type CGMCC 3.28460, ibid., ZY 24.001). Etymology. The epithet “sinensis” (Lat.) refers to China, where the species was collected. Description. Culture characteristics (14 days at 25 ° C): Colony on PDA 35–37 mm diam. white to grey, felty, margin fimbriate; reverse: white to grey. Colony on OA 44–46 mm diam. white to grey, flat, margin entire, aerial mycelia extremely sparse; reverse: white to grey. Colony on SNA 25–30 mm diam. white, floccose, margin irregular; reverse: white. Mycelium consisting of branched, septate, hyaline, and smooth-walled hyphae, 1–3 μm wide. Conidiophores arising from submerged or superficial hyphae, erect or slanted, simple or poorly branched, often reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells monophialidic, terminal, lateral, cylindrical, straight or curved, hyaline, smooth-walled, with funnel-shaped collarette and a distinct periclinal thickening at the conidiogenous locus, 20–39 μm long, 1.5–4 μm wide at the base. Conidia aggregated in small, slimy heads, hyaline, cylindrical with tapering ends, straight or slightly curved, smooth-walled, 1 - celled, 5.5–9 × 2–2.5 μm (n = 50). Chlamydospores terminal, lateral, intercalary, single, or, in short, in chains, globose to ellipsoid, cylindrical, hyaline, smooth-walled, 6–10 × 5.5–7 μm (n = 50). Sexual morph unknown. Geographical distribution. Beijing, China. Additional material examined. China • Beijing, Xishan National Forest Park, 39.97°N, 116.20°E, soil, 4 June 2022, Xin Li, ZY 24.002. Notes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that two new isolates (CGMCC 3.28460 and ZY 24.002) clustered in a single subclade with high supported value (100 / 1) and were nested in Paragibellulopsis s. str. (Fig. 1). Morphologically, Pa. sinensis differs from Pa. chrysanthemi by its short conidiogenous cells (20–39 μm in Pa. sinensis vs. 36–72 μm in Pa. chrysanthemi) and aseptate and smaller conidia (5.5–9 × 2–2.5 μm in Pa. sinensis vs. 12.5–15.5 × 2.7–3.7 μm in Pa. chrysanthemi) (Hirooka et al. 2014). In addition, Pa. sinensis can be distinguished from Pa. chrysanthemi by their low sequence similarities. In a comparison of ITS, LSU, and tef- 1 α nucleotides, Pa. sinensis (ex-type CGMCC 3.28460) has 97.2 %, 98.5 %, and 98.8 % similarity in ITS (467 / 480 bp, four gaps), LSU (557 / 565 bp, no gap), and tef- 1 α (432 / 437 bp, no gap), which is different from Pa. bifurcatum (ex-type MAFF 242621).