Poaceascoma zoysiiradicicola H. Liu & H. Sang 2025, sp. nov.

Poaceascoma zoysiiradicicola H. Liu & H. Sang sp. nov. Fig. 25 Etymology. Name refers to roots of Zoysia japonica. Description. Poaceascoma zoysiiradicicola differs from its closest phylogenetic neighbour P. halophilum (MFLUCC 15-0949) by unique fixed alleles in two loci: LSU positions 2 (T), 48 (T), 49 (T), 52 (indel), 144 (T), 359 (T), 458 (T), 655 (T), 730 (indel), 764 (indel), 866 (A); SSU positions 171 (indel), 969 (indel). Culture characteristics. Colony reaching 44.23 mm diam. on PDA after 7 days in darkness at 25 ° C, front side reseda green, reverse sides crineous to dark, margin white on both sides (Fig. 25 a). Type. Korea • South Jeolla Province, Hwasun, isolated from roots of Zoysia japonica, October 2020, H. Liu and H. Sang, holotype CMML 20-50 H (permanently preserved in a metabolically inactive state), ex-holotype CMML 20-50, ex-isotype CMML 20-51. Notes. No sporulation was found on synthetic media in this fungus. However, chlamydospore-like structures in hyphae were observed on MEA after two weeks, 4–6.5 μm in width (Fig. 25 b – g). In phylogenetic analysis, based on multi-loci of ITS, LSU, SSU and TEF 1, strains CMML 20-50 and CMML 20-51 formed a separate clade sister to ex-type strain of P. halophilum (MFLUCC 15-0949) (Fig. 26). Based on nucleotide sequences of LSU and SSU, ex-holotype strain of P. zoysiiradicicola (CMML 20-50) was different with the ex-type strain of P. halophilum (MFLUCC 15-0949): LSU sequence identities = 855 / 863 (99.07 %), gaps = 3; SSU sequence identities = 1038 / 1038 (100 %), gaps = 2. Poaceascoma halophilum was found as a saprophyte on a decaying bamboo stick and its asexual morph is undetermined (Hyde et al. 2017). In terms of culture characteristics, P. halophilum differs from P. zoysiiradicicola in the slower vegetative growth rate on PDA (Hyde et al. 2017). Therefore, P. zoysiiradicicola sp. nov. was introduced in this study to accommodate CMML 20-50 and CMML 20-51 in the genus Poaceascoma.