Tomo 37 (1): 73-78. 2012
KURTZIANA
A new species of Pseudoplectania
(Sarcosomataceae, Pezizales) from Venezuela
Teresa Iturriaga 1, Melissa Mardones 2 & Héctor Urbina 2
1
Departamento Biología de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela, titurri@usb.ve
2
Postgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento Biología de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar,
Caracas, Venezuela.
Summary
Iturriaga, T., M. Mardones & H. Urbina. 2012. A new species of Pseudoplectania (Sarcosomataceae,
Pezizales) from Venezuela. Kurtziana 37 (1): 73-78.
A new species of the genus Pseudoplectania (Sarcosomataceae, Pezizales) was collected on wood in a
tropical forest in southern Venezuela, at Gran Sabana, Canaima National Park, Bolívar State; species of
the genus Pseudoplectania are characterized by having a deep cup shaped sessile or stipitated apothecia,
covered by coiled or twisted hairs, J- asci containing 8 globose, smooth, hyaline ascospores; the new
species can be distinguished from the rest of the species in the genus in having small short-stipitate
apothecia, cylindrical hyaline paraphyses and ascospores with small scattered warts visible only in
material stained with aqueous Congo Red; ornamented ascospores have not been previously described
in the genus.
Key words: discomycetes, ascospore ornamentation, Congo Red, Pseudoplectania, neotropics, Fungi.
Resumen
Iturriaga, T., M. Mardones & H. Urbina. 2012. Una nueva especie de Pseudoplectania (Sarcosomataceae,
Pezizales) de Venezuela. Kurtziana 37 (1): 73-78.
Una nueva especie perteneciente al género Pseudoplectania (Sarcosomataceae, Pezizales) fue
coleccionada creciendo sobre madera en un bosque tropical del Sur de Venezuela, en la Gran Sabana,
Parque Nacional Canaima, Estado Bolívar; las especies de Pseudoplectania se caracterizan por poseer
un apotecio discoide, profundo, que puede ser sésil o estipitado y que se encuentra cubierto por tricomas
espiralados o entorchados, ascos J- que contienen 8 ascosporas globosas, hialinas y de pared lisa; la
nueva especie se distingue del resto de las especies del género por la presencia de un apotecio pequeño
y estipitado, paráfisis hialinas y cilíndricas y ascosporas ornamentadas con pústulas no cianofílicas
visibles sólo en montajes en reactivo Rojo Congo; las ascosporas ornamentadas no han sido descriptas
para otras especies del género.
Palabras clave: discomycetes, esporas ornamentadas, Fungi, neotrópico, Pseudoplectania, Rojo Congo.
Introduction
Pseudoplectania and Plectania are
morphologically similar genera that were
proposed by Fuckel (1870); these genera are
similar in having blackish discoid apothecia
covered on the outside by a dark tomentum.
Differences are that Pseudoplectania species
have globose spores and Plectania species
have spores that are ovoid to ellipsoid. Some
authors have suggested that the two genera
are synonyms (Korf 1970, 1972, Paden 1983,
Zhuang & Wang 1998, Calonge & Mata
2002, Calonge et al. 2003). The primary
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Tomo 37 (1): 73-78. 2012
KURTZIANA
morphological difference between the genera
is a single character, ascospore shape. Korf
(1973) observed that Plectania species have
globose spore primordia. In addition, both
genera have Conoplea anamorphs. Paden (1983),
following Korf (1957), separated Plectania
into four sections: Sphaerosporae, Plectania,
Curvatisporae, and Plicosporae, and the
members with globose ascospores were placed
into the section Sphaerosporae.
Other authors accept both genera based on
morphological and molecular data (Donadini
1987, Landvik et al. 1997, Harrington et al.
1999, Hansen & Knudsen 2000, Perry et al.
2007). According to Li and Kimbrough (1995)
the genera differ in spore wall ontogeny;
ascospores of Pseudoplectania lack a secondary
wall layer but Plectania has a secondary
spore wall layer. This layer is cyanophilic
when mounted in cotton blue and observed
under a light microscope. Donadini (1987)
considered the genera different on criteria
such as differences in the number of nuclei
in the ascospores, the non-cyanophilic spores
in Pseudoplectania and low rate of spore
germination in Pseudoplectania. Harrington
et al. (1999) using 18S rRNA gene sequences
found that Plectania is more closely related
with the genus Galiella while Pseudoplectania
is related to Donadinia. However, Perry et
al. (2007) using partial sequences of nuLSU
rDNA concluded that Plectania and Donadinia
are more closely related. Even when there is
not convincing evidence to support one or the
other of these positions, both studies separate
Plectania from Pseudoplectania, hence, we
consider Plectania and Pseudoplectania as
different taxa.
A specimen referred to the genus
Pseudoplectania was collected on wood in a
gallery forest in the locality of Luepa, Gran
Sabana, Canaima National Park, Bolívar State,
southern Venezuela. Characters of the specimen
include its disc-shaped apothecia, tomentose
black receptacle, dark brown to black hymenium
and globose hyaline ascospores. It differs
from all other species included in the genus
Pseudoplectania by a combination of characters:
small ascomatal size compared with the rest
of species, its short stipe, cylindrical hyaline
paraphyses and ornamented ascospores.
Materials and methods
Protocols for morphological examination and
sectioning followed those outlined in Iturriaga and
Korf (1990). Congo red in water was used as a stain
for observing wall details (ornamentation) in asci
and ascospores. Cotton blue in lactic acid was used
to observe structures and tissues in sections and
squashed material.
Results
Pseudoplectania ryvardenii Iturr., Mardones &
H. Urbina, sp. nov.
VENEZUELA. Bolívar State, Gran Sabana.
Canaima National Park, Gallery forest
in Luepa. N 0671180, W 0646970, 1410
msnm, T. Iturriaga, & H. Urbina. 657,
13.VII.2003. On dead wood. Holotypus
specie (VEN402017). Figs. 9-12.
MycoBank (MB 563323)
Apothecium dark brown when fresh or
rehydrated, black when dry, 5-7 mm diam., 5-8
mm tall, gregarious, deep cup shaped, stipitated,
with radiating black anchoring basal mycelium.
Disc concave, brown to almost black, smooth.
Receptacle dark brown, covered by short-brown
hairs on the upper side and long brown hairs at
the base. Hairs numerous, dark brown, thickwalled, septate, branched, cylindrical, sinuate,
200-600 µm × 8-10(-12) [x9.5 m15 s1.6 n19] µm
at base, 60-130 µm × 6-8(-12) µm at flanks
and margin. Ectal excipulum textura angularis
to textura globulosa, 60-100 µm wide at base,
50-70 µm wide at the flanks and 30-50 µm
wide at the margin; with brown thick-walled
cells, 9-20(-24) [x15 m16 s5.2 n14] × (7-)8-13(16) [x10 m8 s3 n14] µm, inner cells hyaline, outer
cells dark-brown, the later ones giving rise to
tomentum hyphae. Medullary excipulum hyaline
to yellow, composed of textura intricata in a
gelatinous matrix, 750 µm wide at the centre;
200 µm wide at the flanks and 120 µm wide at
the margin; hyphae hyaline to yellow, 4-10 [x6,5
ITURRIAGA, T. et al. A new species of Pseudoplectania from Venezuela
75
Figs. 1-6. Pseudoplectania ryvardenii. 1. Dry apothecium; 2. Longitudinal section through an apothecium
base; 3. Detail of cells of the ectal excipulum ; 4. Detail of hyphae of the medulary excipulum; 5. Ascus and
paraphyses; 6. Ascospores. (Scale bars: 1 = 1 mm; 2-8 = 10 µm).
5 s2,2 n22] µm diam., thin-walled. Hymenium
yellow, 150-400 µm tall. Asci hyaline, longcylindrical, narrowing below into a thin
flexuous base, apex J–, suboperculate, 8-spored,
250–314(–344) [x284 m270 s14.5 n9] × 11-14.5
[x12.5 m11 s1.7 n16] µm. Ascospores globose,
hyaline, with one large central guttule, 10.5–13
[x11 m10.5 s1 n16] µm diam., thick-walled, with
randomly scattered pustules seen only under
Congo Red. Paraphyses hyaline, cylindrical,
septate, straight, thin-walled, 2.4-3.2 µm diam.
Hymenial hairs absent.
m
Ecology & Distribution: Gregarious, on
decaying wood in a gallery forest dominated by
Dimorphandra macrostachya Benth. Presently
only known from the type locality.
Discussion
To date, Pseudoplectania has not been
reported from Venezuela (Iturriaga & Minter
2006). The genus Pseudoplectania currently
comprises seven species: Ps. ericae Donadini,
Ps. kumaonensis Sanwal, Ps. melaena
(Fr.) Sacc., Ps. nigrella (Pers.) Fuckel, Ps.
sphagnophila, Ps. stygia (Berk. & M.A. Curtis)
Sacc. and Ps. vogesiaca Seaver. Among the
genus Plectania, only one species has spherical
spores: Pl. carranzae Calonge & M. Mata.
Only Pl. carranzae and Ps. nigrella have been
reported for the Neotropics.
Pl. carranzae, Ps. sphagnophila, Ps. stygia
and Ps. vogesiaca have stipitate apothecia,
the rest of species have substipitate or sessile
apothecia (Figs. 1 & 2). Furthermore, all the
species have very large apothecia as compared
to Ps. ryvardenii (Table 1).
Paraphyses in Ps. ryvardenii are quite
different from those of any of the other similar
species: showing cylindrical, hyaline and straight
paraphyses, while other species as Pl. carranzae,
Ps. nigrella, Ps. sphagnophila, Ps. stygia, and Ps.
vogesiaca have curved paraphyses with hooked
apices. Paraphyses contents have been described
as brown or black in Ps. melaena, Ps. nigrella
and Ps. sphagnophila; 2 or 3 times branched
at the apices in Ps. ericae, Ps. melaena and Ps.
nigrella, or with agglutinated paraphyses in Ps.
kumaonensis (Table 1).
P. ryvardenii is easily distinguished from all
known species of the genus by the small size
of its apothecia, up to 7 mm diam; cylindrical,
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Tomo 37 (1): 73-78. 2012
KURTZIANA
Table 1
Comparison of morphological characters among Pseudoplectania species
hyaline paraphyses; and ornamented ascospores.
This combination of characters does not exist in
any of the already known descriptions of species
belonging to the genus (Table 1).
Ornamented spores have not been reported in
any other species of Pseudoplectania. However,
Li and Kimbrough’s (1995) ultrastructural
studies show that walls of ascospores in
Pseudoplectania nigrella are undulate and
electron-dense dots are attached to the perisporic
sac, outside their primary wall. These are not
visible under light microscopy. It is possible
that Ps. ryvardenii has large deposits of material
than other species in the genus and consequently
these can be observed under light microscopy.
Congo red is a very effective stain for
showing ascospore wall ornamentations by it
binding to the chitin of the cell-wall (Matsuoka
et al. 1995). Thus, ornamentations seen under
Congo Red and reported by us in this paper
suggest that these are chitinous and might be
part of the spore wall.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Richard P. Korf, Plant
Pathology Herbarium, Cornell University, for
valuable taxonomic comments. We are grateful
to FONACIT, (Fondo Nacional de Ciencia,
Tecnología e Innovacion) Caracas-Venezuela for
funding project Nº S1-2001000663: “Sistemática
Molecular y Morfológica de Hongos
Ascomycetes y Basidiomycetes presentes en
las Sucesiones Fúngicas Descomponedoras
de Madera en Bosques Tropicales” under the
direction of TI which permitted research in a
forest in Luepa, Parque Nacional Canaima as
well as giving a benefit to several of the projects
being undertaken in the Mycology Lab at USB
during that same period.
ITURRIAGA, T. et al. A new species of Pseudoplectania from Venezuela
77
Figures. 9-12. 9. Longitudinal section of the ectal excipulum showing basal tomentum hyphae,
ectal excipulum and gelatinized medulary excipulum; 10. Ascospores with ornamentations and
gelatinous sheath; 11. Apical and basal parts of an ascus; 12. Paraphysis apex. (Scale bar = 10 µm).
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Original recibido el 15 de Noviembre de 2011;
primera decisión: 18 de Noviembre de 2011;
aceptado el 8 de Diciembre de 2011.
Editor responsable: Andrea Romero.