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Abstract
Alascospora evergladensis, a freshwater ascomycete collected from submerged dead petioles of Nymphaea odorata during a survey of aquatic fungi along a phosphorus gradient in the Florida Everglades, is described and illustrated as a new genus and species in the Pleosporales (Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes). The new fungus is unique among genera in the Pleosporales based on a combination of morphological characters that include light brown, translucent, membranous, ostiolate ascomata with dark, amorphous material irregularly deposited on the peridium, especially around the ostiole; globose, fissitunicate, thick-walled asci; septate pseudoparaphyses; and 1-septate ascospores that are hyaline when young, and surrounded by a hyaline gelatinous sheath that is wing-shaped in outline on each side of the ascospore. The sheath is distinctive in that it first expands in water and is translucent, then condenses and darkens around older ascospores, giving them a dark brown, verruculose appearance.
The authors thank Colin Saunders for his suggestions on sampling and Michael Manna and Jessica Fay for providing technical support. We also thank the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) for financially supporting this project and use of their facilities and equipment at the West Palm Beach Research Facility. We are grateful for the help of Prof David Hawksworth CBE who provided comments on the new genus. Financial support of this study by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant No. 03-16496) is gratefully acknowledged. 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.