Botanical Studies (2009) 50: 69-72. microbioloGY Piptocephalis formosana, a new species from Taiwan Hsiao-ManHO1,*andPaulM.KIRK2 1Department of Science Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, 10671, Taiwan, ROC 2CABI Europe-UK, Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey TW20 9TY, UK (ReceivedFebruary15,2008;AcceptedJuly30,2008) ABSTRACT. Piptocephalis formosana,isolatedfromforestsoilinTaiwan,isdescribedasnew.Compared withsimilarspecies,P. formosanadiffersinhavingsmallerheadcellsthatare4-5lobed,cylindrical merosporangiacontaining(2-)3(-4)merospores,andsmallermerosporessurroundedbyawaterdropletwhen mature. Keywords:Piptocephalis formosana;Taiwan;Zygomycetes. INTRODUCTION dissectingmicroscope.SporophoresofPiptocephaliswere transferredalongwiththeirhosttofreshcornmealagar Speciesof PiptocephalisdeBary(Piptocephalidaceae, platesandincubatedat24°C.Afteroneweek,themature Zoopagales,Zygomycota)areobligateparasitesofother sporesofPiptocephalisweretransferredagainbytouching fungi,mainlyMucorales,andusuallycanbeisolated maturemerosporangiawithasterilizedneedletopre- fromherbivoredung,soilorleaflitter.Thesporophores markedspotsonfreshcornmealagarplates.Onedayafter aredichotomouslybranchedseveraltimesandterminate inoculationofPiptocephalismerospores,thesporesofthe in a usually sterile deciduous head cell. Many rod- hostwereinoculatedinthevicinityoftheparasite.After shapedmerosporangia, containingavariablenumberof 4-7days,thehostwasparasitizedbythePiptocephalis merospores,arebornontheheadcell.Thematurespores species. remaindryorareenclosedinaliquiddroplet(Kirk,1978). Microscope slides were prepared from ten-day- This genus contains approximately 21 species oldculturesusingtapwaterorlacticacid-cottonblue (Gräfenhan,1998;Kirketal.,2001;Ho,2006),fourof (cottonblue,0.5g;90%lacticacid,1L)asmounting whichhavebeenreportedinTaiwan,includingonenew media(Kuriharaetal.,2000).Theywereobservedand species(Ho,2003,2004,2006).Inthisstudy,wedescribe photographedusingaLeicaMPS32lightmicroscope aspecies ofPiptocephalisisolatedfromasoilsample (LM).Forscanningelectronmicroscopy(SEM),pertinent collectedfromYangmingshanNationalPark,Taipei, materialswereselectedusingadissectingmicroscopeand Taiwan.IthasfeaturesmuchlikethoseofP. cruciata fixed for 1 h with 2.5% glutaraldehyde in distilled water Tiegh.(vanTieghem,1875),P. debaryana B.S.Mehrotra andthenpost-fixedfor1hwith1%osmiumtetraoxide (Mehrotra,1960)and P. fresenianadeBary(deBary, indistilledwater.Thespecimenswerewashedwith 1865).However,itcanbedistinguishedfromthesethree distilledwateranddehydratedinagradedacetoneseries. speciesby smallerheadcellsandsmallermerospores. Specimensweredriedinacriticalpointdryer,coatedwith gold,andobservedwithaHitachiS-520scanningelectron MATERIALS AND METHODS microscopeat20KV. SoilsampleswerecollectedfromYangmingshan TAXONOMY NationalPark,Taipeiandbroughtbacktothelaboratory Piptocephalis formosanaH.M.Ho&P.M.Kirk,sp.nov. insterilizedplasticbags.Twotothreemilligramsof Figures1and2 soil particles were placed on 1.7% corn meal agar Hyphaevegetativaeplerumquesubmersae,hyalinae. (BectonDickinson)plates.Theplateswereincubated Sporophoraerectavelascendentia,posteaprostrataet at24°Cfornearlyaweekandwereobservedundera distanterseptata,longitudinaliterstriata;stipitesprinci- palesad13mmlongi,3.0-4.5µmlati,constantesexra- *Correspondingauthor:E-mail:[email protected];Tel: mificationibus successivis usque ad 4, ramosi dichotome, +886-2-2-27321104ext.3319;Fax:+886-2-27375419. tripartitivelquadripartitiramibasiles160-480×3.5-4.5 70 Botanical Studies, Vol. 50, 2009 Figure 1. Piptocephalis formosana.A-C,E,G,LM;D,F,SEM;A,Terminalbranchofasporophorewiththeheadcellsand merosporangiospores detached. Bar = 20 μm; B, Terminal portion of sporophore with merospores detached. Bar = 10 μm; C, Terminal portions of two sporophores showing head cells with merospores detached. Bar =10 μm; D, Apex of a terminal branch showing the lobes of head cells with merospores detached. Bar = 2 μm; E, Distal end of sporophores showing head cells bearing merosporangia. Bar = 20 μm; F, Detached merospores. Bar = 3.8 μm; G, A zygospore with two suspensors. Bar = 20 μm. HO and KIRK — A new species of Piptocephalis 71 µm;ramipaenultimi20-80×2.5-3.5µm;ramitermiles ofuptofoursuccessiveramifications,branchingdi-to 28-47×1.5-2.0µm.Cellulaecapitulideciduae,conica, quadrichotomously(Figures1Aand2A),usuallynon- projecturislobatis,4.5-5.5µmdiam,merosporangis11-18 septate;primarybranches160-480×3.5-4.5µm,forming praeditae.Merosporangiatrispora.Sporangiosporaecylin- (2-)3-4(-5)branchesinawhorl;penultimatebranches dratae,laeves,hyalinae,(2.5-)3.0-3.5(-4.0)×(1.0-)2.0µm, 20-80×2.5-3.5µm,branchingdi-ortrichotomously; Zygosporaesupervelsubpaginaagarifactae,globosae, terminal branches 28-47 × 1.5-2.0 µm, branching verrucosae,42.5-47.5µmdiam,brunneolae.(Holotypus: di-ortrichotomously,slightlyswollenattop(Figure TNMF21839). 1B). Head cells deciduous, conical, with 4-5 lobed Vegetative hyphae usually submerged, hyaline. projections (Figures1C, Dand 2B-D,),4.5-5.5µm Sporophoresoriginallyerectorascending,prostrate diam,bearing11-20merosporangia(Figures1Eand later,smooth-walled,hyalinewhenyoungbecoming 2E-G).Merosporangiacylindrical,containing(2-)3(-4) lightyellowandstriateinage;sometimeswithshorter, merospores.Merosporescylindrical,thebasaloneswith erectsporophoresarisingfromrhizoids.Basalmain theproximalendrounded,theapicaloneswiththedistal stalksupto13mmlong,3.0-4.5µmwide,septate, endrounded,smooth-walled(Figures1Fand2H),hyaline, fertilebranchsystemarisingfrommainstalkconsisting (2.5-)3.0-3.5(-4.0)×(1.0-)1.5-2.0µm,withsporeheads Figure 2. Piptocephalis formosana.A,Upperportionofasporophoreshowingbranchingpattern;B,Aheadcellwithmerosporangia detached. Bar = 5 μm; C, A head cell with merosporangia detached. Bar = 2.5 μm; D, A head cell with merosporangia detached, bottom view. Bar = 2 μm; E, A head cell with merosporangial primordia. Bar=2 μm; F, A head cell with young, developing merosporangia. Bar = 2 μm; G, A head cell with young merosporangia. Bar = 2 μm; H, Merospores. Bar = 5 μm. 72 Botanical Studies, Vol. 50, 2009 formingliquiddropletsatmaturity.Zygosporesformed LITERATURE CITED onorunderthesurfaceofagar,globose;exospores roughened,42.5-47.5µmdiam,lightbrown;endospore DeBary,A.1865.ZurKenntnisderMucorinen.Abh.Sencken- smooth,withswollensuspensors(Figure1G). berg.Naturf.Ges.5:345-375. Holotype. TAIWAN.TaipeiCity,Yangmingshan Gräfenhan, T. 1998. Taxonomic revision of the genus NationalPark,fromsoil,parasitizingMucorsp.,coll.Apr Piptocephalis(Fungi).Master’sthesis.Mathematisch- 2004,H.M.HoSYMC 0302.Alivingculturedeposited NaturwissenschaftlichenFakultätderErnst-Moritz-Arndt- withCABIEurope-UK(IMI392502),adryculture Universiät.Greifswald,Germany,102pp. depositedattheNationalMuseumofNaturalScience, Ho, H.M. 2003. The Merosporangiferous Fungi from Taichung,Taiwan(TNMF21839). Taiwan(III):ThreeNewRecordsofPiptocephalidaceae Etymology. ReferringtoTaiwanwherethefunguswas (Zoopagales,Zygomycetes).Taiwania48:53-59. collected. Ho, H.M. 2004. The Merosporangiferous Fungi from Commentary. Piptocephalis formosanaresemblesP. Taiwan (IV): Two New Records of Piptocephalis cruciata,P. debaryana, andP. fresenianainnumbersof (Piptocephalidaceae,Zoopagales).Taiwania49:188-193. merosporeswithineachmerosporangium,lobedheadcells Ho,H.M.2006.AnewspeciesofPiptocephalisfromTaiwan. andsporeheadsformingawaterdropletatmaturity.The Bot.Stud.47:453-456. headcellsofP. formosanaare4.5-5.5µm,smallerthan Kirk,P.M.1978.AnewandunusualspeciesofPiptocephalis thoseofP. cruciata,P. debaryana,andP. fresemoama, (Mucorales).Trans.Brit.Mycol.Soc.70:335-340. which are 6.5-15 µm, 7-15 µm, and (5-)6-19.5 µm, Kirk, P.M., P.F. Cannon, J.C. David, and J.A. Stalpers. respectively(Gräfenhan,1998). Also,themerosporesof (eds.)2001.DictionaryoftheFungi.9th.(ed.),CABI P. formosanaare3.0-3.5×2µm,smallerthanthoseof International,Wallingford,UK.655pp. thethreeaforementionedspecies,4-7.5×2.5-3µminP. cruciata;3-7×2.5µminP. debaryana,and4-9×2.5-3.5 Kurihara,Y.,S.Tokumasu,andC-Y.Chien.2000.Coemansia µminP. freseniana.Also,thebranchingsystemistri-or furcatasp.nov.anditsdistributioninJapanandTaiwan. quadrichotomouslybranchedinP. formosanaasopposed Mycoscience41:579-583. todichotomouslybranchedinP. freseniana.P. cruciata Mehrotra,B.S.1960.StudiesonMucoralesIII:Piptocephalis alsodiffersfromP. formosanainhaving(3-)4-6(-8) debaryanasp.nov.Proc.Natl.Acad.Aci.IndiaB30: merosporesineachmerosporangium. 370-372. VanTieghem,P.1875.NouvellesrecherchessurlesMucorinées. Acknowledgements. ThisstudywassupportedbyGrant Ann.Sci.Nat.Bot.Sér.61:5-175. NSC92-2621-B-152-001fromtheNationalScience Council,Taiwan,ROC. 台灣產一新種：台灣頭珠黴 何小曼1 P.M.KIRK2 1 國立台北教育大學自然科學教育學系 2 英國國際農業與生物科學研究中心 本文描述一種由土壤中分離的新種台灣頭珠黴，主要特徵為具有4-5裂之頭細胞，其大小較相近 屬為小、柱狀孢子囊含有(2-)3(-4)個孢子以及孢子成熟時形成一水珠，孢子亦較相近屬為小。文中並提 供圖示、描述及與與相近屬之比較。 關鍵詞 ： 台灣頭珠黴 ； 台灣 ； 接合菌綱。.