Jahnula species from North and Central America, including three new species

Abstract

Three new species of loculoascomycetes collected from freshwater habitats in North America are described as new species of Jahnula ( Jahnulales, Dothideomycetes). All three share these morphological features: hyaline to blackish translucent, membranous ascomata with subtending, wide, septate brown, spreading hyphae; peridia composed of large angular cells; hamathecium of septate pseudoparaphyses; 8-spored, clavate to cylindrical asci; and 1-septate, broadly fusiform, brown, multiguttulate ascospores. Four additional species, J. aquatica, J. bipolaris, J. potamophila, and J. seychellensis, are reported for the first time from the western hemisphere.

• Ascomycetes
• aquatic fungi
• submerged wood
• systematics

We thank Andrew N. Miller, Jennifer L. Anderson, Lee Crane and Rebecca Wulffen for assistance with collecting. J.L. Anderson also is thanked for technical assistance. Our thanks go to Christopher Brown for assistance with isolate measurements and collecting. We appreciate permission granted by Apalachicola National Forest and Ocala National Forest rangers for permission to collect in the forests and by Dr Cathy M. Pringle, La Selva Biological Station, to collect at La Selva, Costa Rica. We thank A N. Miller, Alberto M. Stchigel and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. We thank Somsak Sivichai (Biotec, Thailand) and Astrid Ferrer for discussions on morphological characters of Jahnula in culture. Financial support of this study by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant No. DEB 03-16496), and National Institutes of Health (NIH Grant No. R01GM-60600) is gratefully acknowledged.