New saprobic marine fungi and a new combination

Abstract

This paper documents five new saprobic marine fungi occurring on various substrata in the marine environment. Bacusphaeria nypae gen. et sp. nov. was discovered on bases of fronds of Nypa fruticans in Malaysia and phylogenetically, it belongs to the Tirisporellaceae (Tirisporellales, Diaporthomycetidae, Sordariomycetes) based on 18S and 28S rDNA. Cryptovalsa avicenniae, Ceriosporopsis minuta and Jattaea mucronata also belong to the Sordariomycetes; Cr. avicenniae was saprobic on Avicennia marina collected in Saudi Arabia, J. mucronata on intertidal decaying bark of Rhizophora mucronata while Ce. minuta was found on driftwood collected on a sandy beach in Japan. Phylogeny based on 18S and 28S rDNA placed Cr. avicenniae with other Cryptovalsa species in the Diatrypaceae. Jattaea mucronata groups well in the Calosphaeriales and is closely related to J. algeriensis based on a phylogeny using ITS and 28S rRNA and RPB2 genes. Aegeanispora elanii gen. et sp. nov. is an asexual fungus which produces pycnidia on decaying driftwood collected in the Aegean Sea. Combined 18S and 28S rDNA phylogenetic analyses suggest that it is a member of the Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes. Ceriosporopsis minuta resembles C. capillacea with its tubular, long polar appendages of ascospores but dimensions of ascomata and ascospores for the former species are considerably smaller. Ceriosporopsis is considered the best genus to accommodate C. minuta without support from sequence data. Sammeyersia is established as a new genus to accommodate Lulworthia grandispora, a species unrelated to Lulworthia fucicola, the type species. The diagnostic characteristic for the genus is a melanized region at the base of the neck of the ascomata.