Freshwater ascomycetes: Aquapoterium pinicola, a new genus and species of Helotiales (Leotiomycetes) from Florida

Abstract

As part of a survey of freshwater ascomycetes in Florida an unusual discomycete fungus belonging in the Helotiales was found on submerged Pinus needles. This fungus is described and illustrated as a new genus and species, Aquapoterium pinicola, based on morphological data. Aquapoterium pinicola is characterized by minute, hyaline apothecia with an excipulum one cell layer thick of parallel hyphae composed of chains of cells narrow at the basal end and enlarged at the apical end and aseptate ascospores that are surrounded by a gelatinous sheath. Analyses of the nuclear ribosomal large subunit DNA sequence data confirmed its placement within the Helotiales but failed to resolve its familial placement.

• aquatic fungi
• LSU
• phylogenetics
• systematics

We appreciate the comments provided by the two anonymous reviewers. We thank Chris Brown and Dr J.L. Crane for their assistance with collecting. We thank the rangers at Blackwater River State Forest, Apalachicola National Forest and Ocala National Forest for permission to collect within the forest. The Keck Center, UIUC, is acknowledged for sequencing. Financial support from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health under (NSF grant No. DEB 03-16496 and NIH grant No. R01GM-60600) and the H. Ross Memorial fund helped make this research possible. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in thisPUBLICation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. This work represents a portion of a thesis (HAR) in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree at the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.