Taxonomic notes on eight species of obligate mycoparasites in the genus Syncephalis isolated from soil and dung

ABSTRACT

Species of Syncephalis (Zoopagomycotina, Piptocephalidaceae) are obligate mycoparasites that grow on common saprobic species of Mortierellomycotina and Mucoromycotina in soil and dung. Despite their ubiquitous occurrence across the globe, fungi in the genus Syncephalis are understudied, and there are few modern taxonomic treatments of these fungi. In order to clarify species concepts in the genus, we provide morphological data and discuss seven classical Syncephalis species: S. basibulbosa, S. cordata, S. depressa, S. hypogena, S. intermedia, S. nodosa, and S. sphaerica. Three of these species are only known as herbarium specimens (S. basibulbosa, S. cordata, S. intermedia). We have isolated co-cultures of the remaining parasites (S. depressa, S. nodosa, and S. sphaerica) on their host fungi both from nature and from culture collections. The remaining taxon (S. hypogena) was revived from a lyophilized culture. We provide photos and updated descriptions for all of these species as well as new geographic data and references to documented herbarium specimens for each taxon. In addition, we also describe the new species S. latigena.

KEYWORDS:

• Mycoparasite
• Piptocephalidaceae
• Zoopagales
• Zoopagomycota
• 1 new taxon

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank James W. Kimbrough (Department of Plant Pathology), Richard E. Cullen (Plant Disease Clinic, Department of Plant Pathology), Frank Woods (Nematode Assay Clinic, Department of Entomology), and Alex Weir (Department of Environmental and Forest Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York) for obtaining some of the soils used in this study. Two anonymous reviewers and an executive editor (P. B. Matheny) provided helpful feedback during the revision of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

Financing was provided by National Science Foundation grant DEB-1441677 (to M.E.S.) and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) at the University of Florida.