Anamorphic fungi from French Guyana: two undescribed Gliocephalotrichum species (Nectriaceae, Hypocreales)

Abstract

Morphological and molecular studies of Gliocephalotrichum collections from rain forest leaf litter in French Guyana revealed the occurrence of two undescribed species, described here as G. bacillisporum and G. longibrachium. Both species have a whorl of sterile stipe extensions directly subtending the conidiogenous penicilli. Gliocephalotrichum bulbilium also was isolated from leaf litter in French Guyana. Two sequences in GenBank, of uncultured ascomycetes from Gabon, Africa, cluster in the Gliocephalotrichum clade, suggesting the probable existence of additional undescribed taxa from the Central African rainforest.

• Africa
• ß-Tubulin gene
• Hypocreales
• internal transcribed spacer
• Nectriaceae
• phylogeny
• South America
• systematics

The authors thank the French Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries (Paris) for having granted collection and importation permits to work in French Guyana. The G. simplex strain from Singapore was isolated during investigations into Singapore fungal diversity, partly financed by Mycosphere Ltd (Singapore/France), and thanks to the Singapore National Parks Board that granted the latter company research and collection permits. Joëlle Dupont (PC, Paris) is also warmly thanked for providing a Malaysian strain of G. simplex. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (contract BCCM C3/10/003). We sincerely thank Professor C. Evrard (BOTA, UCL) for his help with the Latin diagnosis, Marie Henry de Frahan for her help in isolating and purifying the various strains during field work in French Guyana and later at MUCL, and C. Bivort for her help in the sequencing program.

Notes

2 The type strain of G. bulbilium at MUCL has degenerated and sporulates poorly, with aberrant conidiophores.