Septobasidium puerense Q. Q. Jiang & C. L. Zhao 2024, sp. nov.

Septobasidium puerense Q. Q. Jiang & C. L. Zhao sp. nov. Figs 5, 6 Holotype. China • Yunnan Province, Pu’er, Jingdong County, The Forest of Pineapple, 24°30'58"N, 100°52'31"E, altitude: 2000 m a. s. l., on the living tree of angiosperm, leg. C. L. Zhao, 4 January 2019, CLZhao 9430 (SWFC). Diagnosis. Differs from other Septobasidium species by a cinnamon brown to chestnut brown surface, subglobose to pyriform probasidia (10.5–19.5 × 5.5–9 µm), and two types of haustoria consisting of irregularly coiled hyphae and spindle-shape. Etymology. Puerense (Lat.): refers to the locality (Pu’er) of the type specimen. Description. Basidiomata perennial, resupinate, hard to separate from substrate, coriaceous upon drying, up to 15 cm long, 1 cm wide, 1 mm thick. Hymenial surface smooth, pale brown when fresh, cinnamon brown to chestnut brown upon drying. Sterile margin slightly brown, up to 1 mm. Hyphal system monomitic, generative hyphae with simple septa, pale brown, thick-walled. In section 380–650 µm thick; subiculum pale brown, 10–30 µm thick; pillars brown, 170–380 µm high, 40–85 µm wide, hyphae of pillars 1.5–3.5 µm thick, colorless, with closely packed parallel upright threads, forming 2–3 horizontal layers. Basidia arising directly from the generative hyphae, cylindrical or slightly irregular, slightly curved, 2-3 - celled, 17–30.5 × 3–6.5 µm, colourless. Probasidia subglobose to pyriform, 10.5–19.5 × 5.5–9 µm, colorless, probasidia cell persistent after the formation of the basidia. Basidiospores not seen. Haustoria with two types: 1) consisting of irregularly coiled hyphae; 2) spindle-shape. Habitat and distribution. Growing on the plant Berberidaceae Juss, associated with the insect species Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni Tozzetti). Additional specimen examined (paratype). China • Yunnan Province, Pu’er, Jingdong Country, Wuliangshan National Nature Reserve, 24°29'17"N, 100°40'27"E, altitude: 1800 m a. s. l., on the living tree of angiosperm, leg. C. L. Zhao, 5 October 2017, CLZhao 4298 (SWFC).