Jinx Campbell

A re-evaluation of Lulworthiales : relationships based on 18S and 28S rDNA

The Lulworthiales consists of four genera: three that were removed from the Halosphaeriales, namely Lulworthia, Lindra, and Kohlmeyeriella; and Spathulospora, reassigned from the Spathulosporales. However, studies have shown that neither Lulworthia nor Lindra are monophyletic genera. This study was therefore undertaken to re-evaluate the genera of the Lulworthiales based on the SSU and LSU rDNA genes. Taxonomic revisions are proposed here for Lulworthia crassa, L. lignoarenaria, L. uniseptata and Lindra marinera: Lulworthia crassa is transferred into the genus Kohlmeyeriella; Lulwoidea gen. nov. is established for L. lignoarenaria; Lulwoana gen. nov. is established for L. uniseptata; and Lindra marinera is reduced to synonymy with L. thalassiae. Taxonomic descriptions are emended for the genus Lulworthia s. str., and for L. grandispora and Lindra thalassiae. A neotype is designated for Lulworthia grandispora.

Evolutionary relationships between aquatic anamorphs and teleomorphs: Tricladium and Varicosporium

Tricladium, with 21 accepted species, is the largest genus of aquatic hyphomycetes. It encompasses species with dematiaceous as well as mucedinaceous colonies. Conidiogenesis is thalloblastic; conidiogenous cells proliferate percurrently or sympodially. Conidia have typically two alternate primary lateral branches. Fontanospora and Variocladium are segregates of Tricladium, differing by conidial branching. Varicosporium comprises nine species, one not well known. Conidiogenesis is blastic or thalloblastic, conidiogenous cells proliferate sympodially or are determinate; conidia regularly produce primary and secondary branches and often fragment into part conidia. Molecular analyses on the 28S rDNA of 86 isolates, including 16 species of Tricladium, five species of Varicosporium, two species of Fontanospora and one species of Variocladium, place these hyphomycetes within Helotiales. Tricladium is polyphyletic and placed in six clades; Varicosporium is polyphyletic and placed in three clades; Fontanospora is polyphyletic within a single clade. Variocladium is placed with poor support as a sister taxon to Varicosporium giganteum, Hymenoscyphus scutula and Torrendiella eucalypti.

Koralionastetales, a new order of marine Ascomycota in the Sordariomycetes.

Based on molecular studies using 1760 bp of the nuSSU and 604 bp of the nuLSU rRNA genes and using morphological characters, the genera Koralionastes and Pontogeneia are assigned to the new order Koralionastetales, family Koralionastetaceae, class Sordariomycetes. Koralionastetales is a sister group to Lulworthiales; differences in morphological characters are expressed in the ascospores and the presence/absence of periphyses and paraphyses. A new species of Pontogeneia, P. microdictyi from Microdictyon sp. in the Bahamas, is described.

Marine fungal diversity: a comparison of natural and created salt marshes of the north-central Gulf of Mexico

Marine fungal communities of created salt marshes of differing ages were compared with those of two reference natural salt marshes. Marine fungi occurring on the lower 30 cm of salt marsh plants Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus were inventoried with morphological and molecular methods (ITS T-RFLP analysis) to determine fungal species richness, relative frequency of occurrence and ascomata density. The resulting profiles revealed similar fungal communities in natural salt marshes and created salt marshes 3 y old and older with a 1.5 y old created marsh showing less fungal colonization. A 26 y old created salt marsh consistently exhibited the highest fungal species richness. Ascomata density of the dominant fungal species on each host was significantly higher in natural marshes than in created marshes at all three sampling dates. This study indicates marine fungal saprotroph communities are present in these manmade coastal salt marshes as early as 1 y after marsh creation. The lower regions of both plant hosts were dominated by a small number of marine ascomycete species consistent with those species previously reported from salt marshes of the East Coast of USA.