A new species of Perichaena (Myxomycetes) with reticulate spores from southern Vietnam

Abstract

A new species of Perichaena, described herein as P. echinolophospora, was isolated in moist chamber cultures from substrate samples collected in the monsoon deciduous lowland tropical forests (Cat Tien National Park, Vinh Cuu Nature Reserve) and mixed montane tropical forests (Bi Dup-Nui Ba Nature Reserve) of southern Vietnam. Perichaena echinolophospora was recovered from ground litter, aerial litter and the bark of living trees. The morphology of representative specimens was examined by light and scanning electron microscopy, and micrographs of relevant details are provided. Spore ornamentation consists of a regular reticulum with large meshes, 3–4 μm in wide and limited by denticulate ridges, 1.7–2.2 μm tall, and clusters of small warts and rods densely distributed over the spore surface within the meshes of the reticulum and visible only by SEM. The stability of the taxonomic characters of the species was confirmed by several collections obtained during three field seasons.

• moist chamber cultures
• monsoon tropics
• mycetozoans
• slime molds
• taxonomy

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the technical support (SEM) provided by Ludmila A. Kartzeva (Komarov Botanical Institute RAS, St Petersburg). The authors are grateful for the support of the administration of the Joint Russian Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Centre and Cat Tien National Park and to A.N. Kuznetsov and A.E. Anichkin for their assistance in the organization of fieldwork. Expeditions and laboratory work were supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 13–04–00839-a) and the program Ecolan-1.2 of the Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Scientific and Technological Centre.