Wenhsuisporus taiwanensis gen. et sp. nov., a peculiar setose hyphomycete from submerged wood in Taiwan

Wenhsuisporus taiwanensis gen. et sp. nov., a dematiaceous hyphomycete occurring on decaying wood submerged in a freshwater stream of Taiwan, is proposed based on morphological and molecular data. It produces slimy masses of hyaline, cylindrical, and aseptate phialoconidia from ampulliform or lageniform conidiogenous cells intercalary in the superficial hyphal network and associated with dark, erect, stiff, unbranched subulate setae bulbous at base. The new genus is compared with morphologically similar hyphomycete genera having setae or setiform conidiophores with phialidic or polyblastic conidiogenous cells, such as Avesicladiella, Circinotrichum, Cylindrotrichum, Gyrothrix, and Kylindria. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from concatenated sequences of the complete ITS region and fragments of the LSU and RPB2 revealed the placement of this new genus within the Sordariomycetes, closely related to the Reticulascaceae of the Glomerellales.

Automated summary

A new dematiaceous hyphomycete, Wenhsuisporus taiwanensis, occurring on decaying wood submerged in a freshwater stream of Taiwan, is described based on morphological and molecular data. It produces slimy masses of hyaline cylindrical phialoconidia from conidiogenous cells in the superficial hyphal network, accompanied by dark, erect subulate setae.