Scytalidium guizhouense S. Q. Tong & Zhi. Y. Zhang 2025, sp. nov.

9.Scytalidium guizhouenseS. Q. Tong & Zhi. Y. Zhang sp. nov. Fig. 4 Type. CHINA • Guizhou, Guiyang, Huaxi District, Shiban Town, 26.46°N, 106.65°E, soil, 8 July 2022, Shuo-Qiu Tong (holotype HMAS 354097, dried culture; ex-type CGMCC 3.28992, ibid., SQT 08 and SQT 09). Etymology. The epithet refers to the type location. Description. Culture characteristics (14 days at 25 ° C): Colony on PDA attaining 48–55 mm diam., flat, margin lobate edge, ash gray (1 B 2) to dull green (30 E 3). Reverse ash gray (1 B 2) to jade green (27 E 3). Colony on SNA attaining 20–26 mm diam., flat, margin radially striate with lobate edge, white (1 A 1). Reverse white (1 A 1). Mycelium consisting of hyaline, smooth-walled, branched, septate, 1–2.5 μm diam hyphae. Conidiophores erect, hyaline, smooth, solitary, terminal, lateral, subcylindrical, straight to flexuous, unbranched, 0–2 - septate, reduced to conidiogenous cells, 12.5–43 × 1–3 μm. Conidia solitary, catenate, hyaline, smooth-walled, oblong or ellipsoidal to globose, subcylindrical to cylindrical, not constricted at septa, segments 6.5–12 × 5–7 μm (avg. 8.9 × 5.9 μm, n = 30). Chlamydospore-like cells dark brown, oblong or ellipsoidal to subglobose, ellipsoidal, 0–1 - septate, thick-walled, smooth, solitary or catenate, 7.5–13 × 4.5–6.5 μm (avg. 10.5 × 5.4 μm, n = 30). Fertile hyphae borne laterally on simple conidiophores, fragmenting into arthroconidia. Arthroconidia hyaline to brown, smooth, cuboidal to oblong or cylindrical, 3–7.5 × 2–3 µm (avg. 5.3 × 2.7 μm, n = 30). Sexual morph unknown. Geographical distribution. Guizhou Province, China. GenBank numbers. SQT 08 – SQT 09, ITS: PV 890023 – PV 890024, LSU: PV 890030 – PV 890031. Notes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that two new isolates (CGMCC 3.28992 and SQT 09) clustered in a single subclade with strong support (100 / 1) (Figs 1, 2). Morphologically, S. guizhouense differs from other species in Scytalidium by its production of conidia, arthroconidia, and chlamydospore-like cells, and an unknown sexual morph (see notes of key). Scytalidium guizhouense was isolated from soil in a pepper cultivation area and is likely to have a saprophytic lifestyle.