Metacapnodium dingleyae S. Hughes

Metacapnodium dingleyae S. Hughes Fig. 7 Specimens examined. Norway • Ålesund, Skinstadreset, on Taxus baccata L., 21 Jan. 1999, D. Holtan, O F 65377; • Ålesund, Skodje, on Taxus baccata L., 21 Jan. 1999, D. Holtan, O F 65671; • Ålesund, Fyllingsfjellet, Skodje, on Taxus baccata L., 8 May 1999, D. Holtan, O F 66918; • Ålesund, Øvrestølen, on Taxus baccata L., 30 April 2001, D. Holtan, O F 171421; • Ålesund, Glømmesætra, on Taxus baccata L., 30 April 2001, D. Holtan, O F 171422; • Ålesund, Sætrevegen, on Taxus baccata L., 1 May 2001, D. Holtan, O F 171424; • Ålesund, Sætreheia, on Taxus baccata L., 24 Nov. 2002, D. Holtan, O F 201624; • Ålesund, Storberget, on Taxus baccata L., 25 Feb. 2003, D. Holtan, O F 201720, O F 201727; • Ålesund, Opskar, on Taxus baccata L., 2 Mar. 2003, D. Holtan, O F 201744; • Hjelmeland, Randøy, on Taxus baccata L., 15 Mar. 2003, J. I. Johnson, O F 281492; • Sykkylven, Birkeneslia, on Taxus baccata L., 26 Jul. 2010, D. Holtan & P. G. Larsen, O F 293899. GenBank accession numbers. Collection O F 201720 (ITS, OR 532929); Collection O F 281492 (ITS, OR 532930); Collection O F 293899 (ITS, OR 532931). Description. Subicula thick, dark brown to black, superficial. Mycelia of moniliform to doliiform hyphae, brown when mature, smooth to slightly verrucose throughout, and verrucose distally, tapered towards their ends. Cells broader than long, up to 30 µm wide, narrowing to 6 µm at hyphal tips. Sexual form. Ascomata scattered to crowded in some specimens, dark brown, semi – immersed in subicula, 120–200 × 90–150 µm, bearing moniliform appendages. No mature asci and ascospores observed. Asexual forms. Capnobotrys – No distinctive conidiophores observed. Conidiogenous cells arise variously, unilaterally from cells at and just below the hyphal tip, in clusters at the tips of erect hyphae. Conidiogenous cells ovoid, brown, verruculose, bearing denticulate scars where successive conidia budded out, then seceded. Conidia ovoid, walls up to 2 µm thick, up to five septate, slightly constricted at the septa, deeply verrucose, brown to dark brown. Conidium size increases with number of septa: aseptate conidia (6) – 8.5 – (10.5) + / – 1.7 × (5) – 6.8–8) + / – 1.5 µm, N = 20, the two-septate conidia (17) – 18.6 – (20) + / – 1.7 × (8) – 9 – (11) + / – 1.0 µm, N = 26, the less common five-septate conidia (38.0) – 41.0 – (44.0) + / – 3.2 × (10.0) – 11 – (12.0) + / – 0.7 µm, N = 3. Cells wider than long, proximal cells usually wider and longer than distal cells. Capnophialophora – Phialides on distal cells of hyphae and (not illustrated) on capnobotrys conidia, light brown to brown, verruculose, subspherical venters 5–6 µm wide; collarettes deeply constricted at junction with venter, funnel – shaped, up to 4 µm long, opening to 2 µm wide. No phialidic conidia observed. Hosts and distribution. Reported from New Zealand on living trunks of woody gymnosperms: Phyllocladus trichomanoides, Prumnopitys taxifolia, Dacrydium cupressinum (Hughes 1981). Possibly also widespread on Taxus baccata (Taxodiaceae) in Europe: specimens from Taxus sp. from Norway examined here, also reported from England (Ellis 1976), Ireland (Hughes 1981) and Italy (Karadelev et al. 2017). Notes. The ITS phylogeny places three specimens (O F 201720, O F 281492, O F 293899) in the same clade with strong support. The M. dingleyae clade appears as sister to M. australis with 51–83 % bootstrap support (Fig. 2). Morphologically, M. dingleyae can be distinguished from other species producing a capnobotrys form by their conidia with more than one septum.