Three new species of Dicephalospora (Leotiomycetes, Helotiales) from Northern Thailand and Southwestern China

By

Le, Luo
Kandawatte, Thilini Chethana
Zhao, Qi
Thiyagaraja, Vinodhini
Khongphinitbunjong, Kitiphong
Al-Otibi, Fatimah Olyan
Hyde, Kevin D

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025

Original Publication

MycoKeys

Volume

115

Pages

67--85

Subjects

3 new species , Helotiaceae , Morphology , Phylogeny , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2011-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.115.143994

 

Abstract

Dicephalospora is a discomycetous genus belonging to the family Helotiaceae (Helotiales). The genus currently comprises 19 species. Among them, 17 species have been reported from Asia, of which 14 were reported from China. During a survey of Leotiomycetes, we collected six specimens of Dicephalospora species from southwest China and northern Thailand. The samples were examined based on the phylogenetic analyses of LSU and ITS sequence data, along with morphological characterization, and our results demarcate three new Dicephalospora species, viz., D. tengyueica, D. maetaengica and D. menghaica. Dicephalospora tengyueicasp. nov. formed a distinct clade closely related to D. rufocornea, D. irregularis and D. sagerae, whereas D. maetaengicasp. nov. clustered closer to D. menghaicasp. nov. with 100% ML and 1.00 BIPP statistical support. All three species have similar apothecia sizes but differ in their coloration. Dicephalospora tengyueica has aseptate ascospores, while D. menghaica and D. maetaengica have 7-septate ascospores. The paraphyses in D. menghaica are branched, while they are unbranched in the other two species. An updated key to the known species of Dicephalospora is also provided.