Neoroussoella annulata H. L. Si, R. L. Chang, T. Bose & Y. C. Wang 2025, sp. nov.

Neoroussoella annulata H. L. Si, R. L. Chang, T. Bose & Y. C. Wang sp. nov. Fig. 6 a – h Etymology. The name refers to the zonate colony morphology on PDA. Type. China • Yunnan Province, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Chuxiong City, Dayao County (26°32'71.54"N, 100°57'3.6"E), isolated from the medullary tissue of the lichen Usnea ceratina (SDCX 26), 13 Nov. 2020, H. L. Si, CX 26 A 1 B = CGMCC 3.23625 (the ex-holotype culture), dried culture HMAS 352142 (holotype specimen), GenBank Accession Numbers: ITS OQ 645267; LSU OQ 645281; SSU OQ 645274; RPB 2 OQ 696278; TEF 1 OQ 696275. Description. Hyphae smooth, pale coloured to brown, branched, septate, measuring 0.94-2.99 μm (x ̄ = 1.48 μm, n = 50) in diam (Fig. 6 c – h). Often, two parallel hyphae form hyphal anastomosis (Fig. 6 d, g). No spores or sexual morphs were observed. Culture characteristics. On PDA, after 7 days of incubation at 25 ° C, the colony has a light brown centre with curved elevations, surrounded by a greyish green concentric circle, and the margin is light grey. The surface is rough with short, fine hairs, and the edges are smooth and irregularly cracked (Fig. 6 a). The reverse of the colony has a dark brown centre and edges that range from brown to yellow (Fig. 6 b). The optimal growth temperature is 25 ° C (1.57 mm / day). No growth was detected at 5 ° C and 35 ° C. Host. Usnea ceratina. Distribution. Yunnan, China. Note. Neoroussoella annulata is closely related to N. magnoliae in both multigene and single-gene phylogenetic analyses. We didn’t observe any reproductive structures for N. annulata; however, the sexual morph of N. magnoliae is known (Yuan et al. 2020). A significant genetic divergence was observed between the species, with a total of 50 base pair differences in the sequences analysed: ITS (19 bps), SSU (21 bps), LSU (0 bps), and TEF (10 bps). Furthermore, the ecological preferences of these species are distinct; N. annulata was isolated from U. ceratina, whereas N. magnoliae is a saprobic species isolated from dead twigs of Magnolia species (Yuan et al. 2020).