Baetimyces, a new genus of Harpellales, and first report of Legeriomyces ramosus from the northeastern Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Baetimyces, belonging to the Legeriomycetaceae, is described here as a new genus. Its single species, B. ancorae, has been found growing in the hindgut of mayfly nymphs of the genus Baetis (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae) inhabiting a Pyrenean Mountains canal-stream from the northeastern region of the Iberian Peninsula. The new genus is characterized by having trichospores with two thick appendages of unequal length, and by zygospores perpendicularly and medially attached to the zygosporophore. The new genus may be related to Glotzia, Legeriomyes, and Zygopolaris, and similarities with these and other genera are compared and discussed. The new species often coexists in the same gut with Legeriomyces ramosus, which is reported for the first time in Spain.

• Baetidae
• gut fungi
• Legeriomycetaceae
• mayfly nymphs
• taxonomy
• Trichomycetes

The authors wish to express their gratitude to R.W. Lichtwardt for the loan of Zygopolaris material (slides and photomicrographs) as well as for comments and helpful suggestions on the manuscript, to J. Fortes for the Latin diagnosis and to J. Bosch for his help in field collecting. This research was supported by DGES project no. PB98-0538-C04-04 (“Flora Micológica Ibérica IV”), financed by CSIC—“Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas”—and by the Spanish government.