agarwalomyces indicus gen. et sp.nov., a fructicolous synnematous hyphomycete from uttar pradesh

Notes and brief articlesmuch more compact in the present fungus andgives a rather brittle and waxy texture to the freshapothecia. The ectal layer is similar to that of P.puloinata, but remains hyaline on the stipe. Themycelium from which the apothecia arise is alsomainly hyaline, but does include a few pale-brownhyphae. The most significant differences are theslightly smaller asci and narrower spores of thepresent fungus.

Clearly the isolate from timber produces apo-thecia which differ in some degree from typical P.puloinata on needles, but it is difficult to estimateat what taxonomic level the differences are bestexpressed. Only a single isolate has been seen andit is possible that apothecia produced on artificialculture media may not precisely match othersdeveloped on the natural substrata - for example,in colour of hyphae or compactness of hyphal

tissue . Without more extensive collections forcomparison it seems unwise to recognize thefungus from the timber as a distinct species atpresent and it is proposed to treat it as a Iignicolousvariety of the obviously allied P. puloinata var.puloinata.

Thanks are due to Dr R. W. G. Dennis forhelpful discussion and for reading the manuscript.

REFERENCES

DENNIS, R. W. G. (1956). A Revision of the BritishHelotiaceae in the Herbarium of the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew, with notes on related European Species .My cological Papers (e M !) 62, 1-216.

FISHER, P. J . & PETRINI, O. (1987). Location of fungalendophytes in tissues of Suaeda fruticosa :a preliminarystudy. Transactions of the British Mycological Society89, 246-249.

AGARWALOMYCES INDICUS GEN. ET SP.NOV., A FRUCTICOLOUSSYNNEMATOUS HYPHOMYCETE FROM UTTAR PRADESH

BY R. K. VERMA AND KAMAL

My cology Laboratory , Department of Botany , Gorakhpur University , Gorakhpur - 273009, V.P., India

Agarwalomyces indicus gen. et sp .nov., collected on living fruits of an unidentified member ofthe Lythraceae from U .P., India is described, illustrated and compared with allied genera.

The present paper deals with the description andillustration of a synnematous hyphomycete fromIndia that not only has an unusual morphology butalso grows directly on living fruits. It producesblack colonies consisting of black synnemata eachwith a terminal fertile head. The colonies com-pletely cover the circumference of the fruit and tothe naked eye appear like black pinheads pivotedin the fruits. The vegetative mycelium is foundinside the fruits and later a prosenchymatoussynnema develops on a pseudoparenchymatousstromata, splaying out in a fertile rounded head.The head consists of a compact mass of conidio-phores and conidia. These features place theconidiomata as parallel determinate synnemata(Seifert , 1985). The free ends of conidiophores arerough, cicatrized with unthickened scars producingverruculose conidia acropleurogenously in chainsor clusters.

Agarwalomyces gen.nov .etyrn : In honour of Professor G . P. Agarwal , Head,Department of Biological Sciences, Ran i DurgavatiUni versity, Jabalpur, M . P., India.

Coloniae synnematosae, nigrae, sparsae. Mycelium exhyphis imm ersis, ramosis, septatis, hyalinis vel pallidebrunneis compositum. Stroma in substrata semi-im-

mersa, pseudoparenchymat ica, nigra. Con idiomata syn-nernatosa prosenchymatica, ex stromatibus oriunda. Con-idiophora apicem versus ramosa, septata, aspera, pallidebrunnea. Cellulae conidiogenae in conidiophoris incor-poratae, cylindricae, polyblasticae, cicatricibus terminalesvel int ercalares proliferationibus irregularibus syrnpo-dialibus . Conidia holoblastica, sicca, catenata vel botry-osa, acropleurogena, rotundata, brunnea vel atrobrunnea,verruculosa, aseptata,

Specie s typ ica : Agarwalomyces indicus Verma & Kamal

Colonies black, of scattered erect black synnematawith rounded heads. Mycelium immersed: hyphaebranched, septate, hyaline to pale brown. Stromatapseudoparenchymatous, partially embedded in thehost tissue , black. Conidiomata synnematous, pro-senchymatous, arising from stromata, individualhyphae fused and parallel, the stipe splaying out ina rounded head, dark brown to black, straight, thefree ends of conidiophores and conidiogenous cellsprojecting. Conidiophores septate, branched,rough, light brown. Conidiogenous cells integratedon the free ends of conidiophores, cylindrical,polyblastic, terminal and intercalary, with irregularsympodial proliferations and unthickened scars.Conidia holoblastic, dry , catenate or botryose,acropleurogenous, globose , aseptate, light brownto dark brown , verruculose.

Trans. Br , mycol. Soc. 89 (4) (1987) Printed in Great Br itain

Notes and brief articles

Fig. 1. Aga rwalomy ces indicus. Conidioma attached to fruit, showing mycelium , stroma,synnema and fertil e head.

597

Trans. Br . my col. Soc. 89 (4) (1987 ) Printed in Great B ritain

Notes and brief articles

Fig. 2. Agarwalomyces indicus. Conidiophores and conidia.

Agarwalomyces indicus Verma & Kamalsp.nov. (Figs 1-2)

Coloniae synnematosae, nigrae, sparsae. Mycelium exhyphis immersis, ramosis, septatis, hyalinis vel pallidebrunneis, 0'5-1'0 pm latis compositium. Stroma in sub­strato semi-immersa, pseudoparenchymatica, nigra, 160~225 ft crassa, ex cellulis 5'2-10'5 ftm crassis composita.Conidiomata synnematosa prosenchymatica ex stroma-

tibus oriunda, 100-180 ftm diam. Conidiophora apicemversus ramosa, septata, aspera, pallide brunnea, usque5'0-6'5 ftm diam. Cellulae conidiogenae in conidiophorisincorporatae, cylindricae, polyblasticae, cicatricibus, ter­minales vel intercalares, proliferationibus irregularibussympodialibus. Conidia holoblastica, sicca, catenata velbotryosa, acropleurogena, rotundata, brunnea vel atro­brunnea, verruculosa, aseptata, usque 5'2-9'0 ftm diam.

In fructis vivis Lythraceae indet., Chaubattia, Ranik-

Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 89 (4) (1987) Printed in Great Britain

Notes and brief articles 599het, Almora, U.P., October 1985, R. K. Verma, GPUKK 157 holotypus, IMI 299717, isotypus.

Colonies black, consisting of scattered erect blacksynnemata, each with a small black head. Myceliumimmersed, intercellular, consisting of hyaline topale brown hyphae, 0'5-1'0 pm diam. Stromatapseudoparenchymatous, black, partially embeddedin the host tissue, black, 160-225 pm diam. Coni-diomata synnematous, prosenchymatous, arisingfrom the stromata, individual hyphae fused andparallel with the stipe splaying out in a roundedhead (250-350 x 150-250 pm), dark brown toblack, straight, the free ends of conidiophoresprojecting out from the head, branched, septate,rough-walled, light brown, 5'0-6'0 pm diam. Coni-diogenous cells integrated on the free ends of theconidiophores, terminal or intercalary, cylindrical,polyblastic, with unthickened scars and irregularsympodial proliferations. Conidia holoblastic, aero-pleurogenous, dry, catenate or 2-10 botryose, ver-ruculose, brown to dark brown, 5'2--9'2 psn. diam.

Among the synnematous dematiaceous hypho-mycetes (Ellis, 1971, 1976; Subramanian, 1971).Agarwalomyces indicus is distinct in several re-spects. Not only does it occur exclusively on livingfruits but it also forms prosenchymatous synnemataon a pseudoparenchymatous stroma. This is sur-mounted by a fertile head from which free ends ofconidiophores project. This morphology is similarto Tharoopama Subram. (Subramanian, 1971) butdiffers in that conidiophores of Tharoopama aresingle-celled producing simple hyaline aerogenousconidia while in Agarwalomyces the septate conidio-phores produce catenate brown to dark-brown

acropleurogenous conidia. Other synnematousgenera such as Drumopama Subram. (Subra-manian, 1971), Lacellina Sacc., DidymobotryumSacc., Dendrographium Massee, Virgatospora Fin-lay, Pycnostysanus Lindau and HarpographiumSacco(Ellis, 1971) are quite different from Agarwa-lomyces not only in the nature of the synnemata,heads and conidiophores but also in conidialmorphology and ontogeny. The fertile head ofA?arwalomyces shows some superficial similarityWith Me~nonie!la stilboidea (Munjal & Kapoor)~. B. ~lhs (ElliS, 1976) but this species differs inItShyalme synnemata, the almost globose conidio-~e.nous cells and conidial ontogeny. The con-idiophores of Lacellina and Periconia (Tode) Bon.(Ellis, 1971, 1976; Subramanian 1971) are alsosi.milar to those in Agarwalomyces but these generadiffer substantially in other taxonomic characters.

The authors are thankful to Prof. S. N. Mathur,~ead Department of Botany, Gorakhpur Univer-sity, Gorakhpur for providing necessary facilitiesan~ CSIR, New Delhi, for providing financialassistant to one of them (R.K. V.).

REFERENCES

ELLIS, M. B. (1971). Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes. Com-monwealth Mycological Institute, Kew: U.K.

ELLIS, M. B. (1976). More Dematiaceous Hyphomycetes.Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew: U.K.

SEIFERT, K. A. (1985). A monograph of Sri/bella andsome allied hyphomycetes. Studies in Mycology (CBS)27, 1-235.

SUBRAMANIAN, C. V. (1971). Hyphomycetes. ICAR NewDelhi: India. '

Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 89 (4) (1987) Printed in Great Britain