The Discovery of Three New Species of the Mycoparasitic Genus Syncephalis (Zoopagales, Zoopagomycota) in Brazil
Sample Abstract 1
The Discovery of Three New Species of the Mycoparasitic Genus Syncephalis (Zoopagales, Zoopagomycota) in Brazil
Leslie Waren Silva de Freitas1, Mateus Oliveira da Cruz1, Maria Alice Barbosa dos Santos1, Maria Carolina da Rosa Pinto1, Suzana Brito Gomes da Silva1, Roger Fagner Ribeiro Melo1, Hyang Burm Lee2, André Luiz Cabral Monteiro de Azevedo Santiago1*
1Departamento de Micologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
2Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Biological Chemistry, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea.
Syncephalis is the most representative genus of Zoopagales and species of this genus are common parasites of Mucorales and Mortierellales. Although 67 species of Syncephalis have been described, taxonomic and ecological knowledge of these mycoparasites is still limited. This study reports two new species of Syncephalis from soil in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest and and one from rabbit dung in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. Soil samples were collected in Cristalino, Mato Grosso State. For the isolation, 5 mg of soil was placed on Petri dishes with wheat germ agar culture medium plus chloramphenicol. Samples of rabbit dung were collected in Recife, Pernambuco State and kept in moist chambers at room temperature for 12 days. Each host along with the parasite was transferred to potato dextrose agar culture medium. Syncephalis gigantea sp. nov. forms long and short, commonly forked merosporangiophores, that arise single or in clusters of up to six. Fertile vesicles are pear-shaped, some slightly constricted or irregular. Merospores are cylindrical, oblong or ellipsoid and cuneiform. Syncephalis minuta sp. nov. forms merosporangiophores short, unbranched, that arise single or in clusters of up to three. Fertile vesicles are clavate, globose, and subglobose. Merospores are long and cylindrical. Syncephalis recifensis sp. nov. forms merosporangiophores short, unbranched, arising singly or in pairs, with bottom half wider than top half. Fertile vesicles are hyaline, obovoid, some applanate. Merospores are ellipsoidal. This study contributes to the knowledge on taxonomy and distribution of zoopagalean fungi.
