Neomonodictys subtropicus W. M. Zhang & L. Lu 2025, sp. nov.

Neomonodictys subtropicus W. M. Zhang & L. Lu sp. nov. Fig. 2 Etymology. The specific epithet “ subtropicus ” refers to the subtropical climate of the collection site. Holotype. GZAAS 25-0656 Description. Saprobic on submerged decaying wood in a freshwater stream. Asexual morph: Conidiomata on natural substratum sporodochial, scattered, gregarious, punctiform, glistening, black. Mycelium mostly superficial, partially immersed, composed of branched, smooth-walled, septate, hyaline to pale brown hyphae. Conidiophores up to 78 μm long, 3.3–4.8 μm wide, macronematous, mononematous, cylindrical, simple, septate, smooth-walled, hyaline. Conidiogenous cell 2.7–5.3 × 3.2–3.8 μm (x ̄ = 4.5 × 3.5 μm, n = 10), terminal, determinate, integrated, holoblastic, monoblastic, cylindrical, hyaline, sometimes detached with the mature conidia. Conidia 15.5–19 × 8.5–11.5 μm (x ̄ = 17 × 10.5 μm, n = 60), acrogenous, solitary, oval, obovoid to ellipsoid, aseptate, guttulate, pale brown to dark brown. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Culture characteristics. Conidia germinate on PDA within 18 hours, producing germ tubes from the conidial body. Colonies on PDA are circular with a flat surface and entire margin, reaching 2.5 cm in diameter after 29 days at room temperature (approximately 25 ° C), and are grey or pale brown to black on both the surface and reverse sides. Material examined. China • Guizhou Province, Zunyi City, Fuxing Town, on rotting wood in a freshwater habitat, 18 April 2025, Wang-Ming Zhang, WW 48 (GZAAS 25-0656, holotype), ex-type GZCC 25-0628; • Ibid., WW 48.1 (GZAAS 25-0657, isotype), ex-isotype GZCC 25-0629. Notes. In the present phylogenetic analysis, Neomonodictys subtropicus (GZCC 25-0628 and GZCC 25-0629) formed a sister lineage to N. muriformis (MFLUCC 16-1136) with 96 % ML and 1.00 BYPP bootstrap support (Fig. 1). Based on the base pair comparison, our isolate (GZCC 25-0628, ex-type) differs from N. muriformis (MFLUCC 16-1136, ex-type) by 21 / 593 bp for ITS (3.5 %) and 10 / 829 bp (1.2 %) for LSU. Morphologically, Neomonodictys subtropicus (GZAAS 25-0656) can be readily distinguished from N. aquatica and N. muriformis by its cylindrical, hyaline conidiophores, punctiform conidiomata, and aseptate conidia (Hyde et al. 2020; Huang et al. 2022). Therefore, Neomonodictys subtropicus is introduced here as a new species based on molecular evidence and morphological comparison.