Gongronella pingtangensis Yi Xin Wang, H. Zhao & X. Y. Liu 2024, sp. nov.

Gongronella pingtangensis Yi Xin Wang, H. Zhao & X. Y. Liu sp. nov. Fig. 7 Etymology. The epithet “ pingtangensis ” (Latin) refers to the location where the type was collected, Pingtang County. Type. China • Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Pingtang County, Kapu Maonan Town (25.79510 ° N, 107.38631 ° E), from soil sample, 7 August 7 2023, Yi-Xin Wang (holotype HMAS 352732, ex-holotype strain CGMCC 3.27032). Description. Colonies growing slowly on PDA in darkness at 25 ° C, reaching 38.8–45.6 mm in diameter in seven days, white, cottony, in reverse milky white. Rhizoids hyaline, branched, irregular. Stolons absent. Sporangiophores on aerial mycelia, erect or slightly curved, unbranched, or slightly branched (1–4 times), sympodially branched, 1.4–5.9 μm in width, hyaline, smooth, mostly aseptate or one-septate. Sterile (aborted) sporangia predominantly on the top of short lateral branches of sporangiophores. Fertile sporangia hyaline or light yellow, spherical, 14.2–27.1 μm in diameter, smooth and deliquescent-walled, leaving a collar after releasing sporangiospores. Columellae mostly hemispherical, 2.3–4.0 × 2.8–6.9 μm, partially arch-shaped, 0.9–1.5 × 4.1–4.9 μm, rarely spherical, 4.4–6.0 × 5.1–6.9 μm, hyaline, smooth. Collars mostly distinct, 0.6–8.7 μm wide. Apophyses hyaline, smooth, variously shaped, mostly oval, 7.1–19.8 × 6.9–15.9 μm, partially bowling pin-shaped, 15.6–17.5 × 8.5–9.4 μm, rarely egg-shaped, 4.6–9.8 × 3.6–8.7 μm. Sporangiospores not uniform, hyaline, smooth, mostly ovoid, 2.8–3.9 × 2.0–2.5 μm, sometimes reniform, 2.9–3.6 × 1.9–2.4 μm and globose, 2.1–2.7 μm in diameter, occasionally irregular, 4.8–6.2 × 2.1–2.8 μm. Chlamydospores absent. Giant cells in rhizoids, intercalary, globose, 5.2–6.8 μm in diameter. Zygospores not found. Additional specimen examined. China • Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Pingtang County, Kapu Maonan Town (25.79510 ° N, 107.38631 ° E), from soil sample, 7 August 2023, Yi-Xin Wang (living culture SAUCC 5676-2). GenBank accession numbers. CGMCC 3.27032 (ITS, PP 195855; LSU, PP 195956; TEF, PP 850101; ACT, PP 933949; RPB 1, PP 842880), and SAUCC 5676-4 (ITS, PP 195856; LSU, PP 195957; TEF, PP 850102; ACT, PP 933950; RPB 1, PP 842879). Note. Based on phylogenetic analyses of ITS + LSU + TEF + ACT + RPB 1 sequences, the two isolates of the new species G. pingtangensis form an independent clade with high support (MLBV = 100, BIPP = 0.84; Fig. 1), which is closely related to G. namwonensis with high support (BIPP = 1; Fig. 1). In ITS, G. pingtangensis differs from G. namwonensis by 14 base pairs. This new species differs morphologically from G. namwonensis in columellae, apophysis and giant cell (Crous et al. 2020). G. pingtangensis and G. namwonensis greatly differ from each other in shape of columellae, the former being mostly hemispherical, partially arch-shaped, rarely spherical and the latter being globose, subglobose, hemispherical, nipple-like and ellipsoidal. As for apophyses, G. pingtangensis and G. namwonensis obviously differ from each other in shape, the former being mostly oval, partially bowling pin-shaped, rarely egg-shape and the latter being subglobose and ellipsoid, sometimes with a truncated base. As for giant cells, the G. namwonensis varies in shape more than G. pingtangensis. Combining morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, we classified the two isolates together as a new species G. pingtangensis allied to G. namwonensis.