Acrogenospora terricola sp. nov., a fungal species associated with seeds of pioneer trees in the soil seed bank of a lowland forest in Panama. Issue 10 (31st October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Harrington, Alison H.; Sarmiento, Carolina; Zalamea, Paul-Camilo; Dalling, James W.; Davis, Adam S.; Arnold, A. Elizabeth
• Is Part Of: International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology. Volume 72:Issue 10(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-10-31
• Subjects: Barro Colorado island -- Pezizomycotina -- seed-associated fungi -- dematiaceous hyphomycetes -- culture collections -- new taxon; Microbiology -- Periodicals; Microbiology -- Classification -- Periodicals; 579
• DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.005558
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1466-5026

Abstract

Abstract : As currently circumscribed, Acrogenospora (Acrogenosporaceae, Minutisphaerales, Dothideomycetes) is a genus of saprobic hyphomycetes with distinctive conidia. Although considered common and cosmopolitan, the genus is poorly represented by sequence data, and no neotropical representatives are present in public sequence databases. Consequently, Acrogenospora has been largely invisible to ecological studies that rely on sequence-based identification. As part of an effort to identify fungi collected during ecological studies, we identified strains of Acrogenospora isolated in culture from seeds in the soil seed bank of a lowland tropical forest in Panama. Here we describe Acrogenospora terricola sp. nov. based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses. We confirm that the genus has a pantropical distribution. The observation of Acrogenospora infecting seeds in a terrestrial environment contrasts with previously described species in the genus, most of which occur on decaying wood in freshwater environments. This work highlights the often hidden taxonomic value of collections derived from ecological studies of fungal communities and the ways in which rich sequence databases can shed light on the identity, distributions and diversity of cryptic microfungi.