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Abstract
A new fungal species in the arbuscular mycorrhiza-forming Glomeromycetes, Entrophospora nevadensis, was isolated from soil near the roots of several endemic and endangered plant species (e.g. Plantago nivalis and Alchemilla fontqueri) growing in Sierra Nevada National Park (Granada, Andalucía, Spain). The fungus was propagated in trap cultures on Plantago nivalis and Sorbus hybrida and in pure cultures on Trifolium pratense and Sorghum vulgare. Spores are yellow brown to brown, 90–115 μm diam and form singly in soil, in the neck of adherent sporiferous saccules that form either terminally or intercalary on mycelial hyphae. Spores have two three-layered walls and conspicuous, 6–12 μm long, spiny, thorn-like projections on the outer wall consisting of hyaline to subhyaline, evanescent tips and yellow brown to brown, persistent bases. In aging spores these projections are usually shorter (1–2.8 μm) and dome-shaped or rounded, sometimes with a central pit on top where the evanescent tip has sloughed off. Molecular analysis with partial sequences of the 18S ribosomal gene places the fungus within the Diversisporales. The new fungus was found in soil near plants with different living strategies but growing in high altitude soils with acidic pH, high soil moisture and organic carbon content, and close to streams.
The authors thank Dr Ewald Sieverding for corrections of the Latin diagnosis, Mario Ruiz Girela and Santiago Ferrón Moraleda for their invaluable help in sample collection and Ionomic Service of the Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC (Murcia, Spain), for soil analyses. This study was financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Environment (MMA-OAPN, project 70/2005) and the Junta de Andalucía (project P07-CVI-02952).
