Unveiling fungi associated with Castanopsis woody litter in Yunnan Province, China: Insights into Pleosporales (Dothideomycetes) species

Guang-Cong Ren; Saowaluck Tibpromma; Kai-Xuan Dong; Chen-Xi Gao; Chao-Shan Zhang; Samantha C Karunarathna; Abdallah M Elgorban; Heng Gui

doi:10.3897/mycokeys.108.127560

Unveiling fungi associated with Castanopsis woody litter in Yunnan Province, China: Insights into Pleosporales (Dothideomycetes) species

MycoKeys. 2024 Aug 22:108:15-45. doi: 10.3897/mycokeys.108.127560. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Guang-Cong Ren¹, Saowaluck Tibpromma², Kai-Xuan Dong¹, Chen-Xi Gao¹, Chao-Shan Zhang¹, Samantha C Karunarathna², Abdallah M Elgorban³, Heng Gui⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, Guiyang Healthcare Vocational University, Guiyang 550081, China.
² Guizhou Provincial Engineering Research Center of Medical Resourceful Healthcare Products, Guiyang Healthcare Vocational University, Guiyang 550081, China.
³ Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, Yunnan 655011, China.
⁴ Center of Excellence in Biotechnology Research (CEBR), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

During a survey of the diversity of lignicolous fungi in Yunnan Province, China, we collected and identified five microfungi species from dead woody litters of Castanopsis trees in terrestrial habitats. Through both morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analyses of multi-gene sequences, we identified two taxa as new species and three collections as new host records within Pleosporales. Pseudolophiostomalincangense sp. nov. is introduced as a sexual morph in Lophiostomataceae, Pleopunctumbaoshanense sp. nov. is introduced as a hyphomycetous fungi in Phaeoseptaceae, and Paraphomaaquatica as a first report of sexual morph in Paraphoma. In addition, Occultibambusakunmingensis and Pleopunctummegalosporum were isolated for the first time from the dead twigs of Castanopsisdelavayi and C.calathiformis, respectively. Comprehensive morphological descriptions, illustrations, and phylogenetic analysis results are provided for the above-mentioned species.

Keywords: Hyphomycetes; new species; phylogeny; sexual morph; taxonomy.

Guang-Cong Ren, Saowaluck Tibpromma, Kai-Xuan Dong, Chen-Xi Gao, Chao-Shan Zhang, Samantha C. Karunarathna, Abdallah M. Elgorban, Heng Gui.

Grants and funding

The Yunnan Revitalization Talents Support Plan (High-End Foreign Experts Program) and the Key Laboratory of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education of the Deep-Time Evolution on Biodiversity from the Origin of the Pearl River for their support. The authors extend their appreciation to the Researchers supporting Project Number (RSP2024R56) King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.