Notes on soil dematiaceous hyphomycetes from Mount Taibai and its surrounding area, ChinaⅠ

SONG Wei   YU Jin-Feng**   ZHANG Tian-Yu*

Department of Plant Pathology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China

菌物學(xué)報(bào)   15 January 2008, 27(1): 16-28

Abstract: A total of 103 isolates of soil dematiaceous hyphomycetes belonging to 27 species in 15 genera were obtained from soil samples of Mount Taibai and its surrounding area, Shaanxi Province, China. Among them Eladia pachyphialis and Gliomastix pallescens are new species, while Acremoniula sarcinellae, Allescheriella crocea, Chrysosporium merdarium, Chrysosporium pannorum are new records to China. The main distinction between E. pachyphialis and its similar species E. saccula is that the phialide of the former is wider and the conidia are smaller than those of the latter. Gliomastix pallescens is characterized by having light colored, long and unbranched conidiophores by which it can be separated from its similar species, G. cerealis. Latin descriptions are given for the new species. Brief descriptions and illustrations of the new records are also provided based on Chinese isolates. The other 21 species being previously known from China in several genera are also listed. All specimens (dried cultures and slides) and living cultures studied have been deposited in the Herbarium of Shandong Agricultural University: Plant Pathology (HSAUP).

Key words: soil fungi, taxonomy, new species, new Chinese records

1 INTRODUCTION

Qinling Mountains are the distinct demarcation line between China’s temperate and subtropical climates, and the watershed between Yellow River and Yangtze River valleys. Mount Taibai, the highest peak of Qinling Mts., is 3767.2 meters above the sea level. The topography and vegetation in this area are complicated. In elevations from 780m to 3767.2m the vegetation zonation is obvious. The soil abounding with rich organic matter and humus in this area proved to be favorable to the diversity of soil-inhabiting fungi.

The rich fungal resources in this region have long held the interest of foreign and Chinese mycologists. G. Arcangeli (1896) and P. Baccarini (1905) reported their studies on Qinling fungi collected by Giraldi during 1890-1895. Since 1964 Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has organized several scientific surveys in the Qinling Mts. and collected a great number of specimens which have been deposited in Herbarium Mycologicum Academiae Sinicae (HMAS). A book entitled ‘Fungi of the Qinling Mountains’ edited by Mao & Zhuang (1997) summarized the investigation results during 1991-1992. In which, 737 fungal species in 213 genera of 51 families, including 81 species in 25 genera of hyphomycete fungi (Guo 1997) have been recorded. In recent years, in the published volumes of Flora Fungorum Sinicorum more hyphomycete fungi have been reported by Qi (1997), Liu & Guo (1998, 2003, 2005), Zhang (2003), Zhang (2003, 2006) and Kong (2007) from Qinling Mts.. So far, 116 species belonging to 35 genera of hyphomycete fungi have been reported from the mountains. Most of them are plant-parasitic, and few of them were isolated from soil. As a part of an effort to reveal the fungal diversity in respect to the soil dematiaceous hyphomycetes in China, the authors of the present paper focus their attention on the Mt. Taibai and its surrounding area.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Sample collection

Soil samples were collected from different vegetation type at an interval of 200m of elevations. Each sample was collected from many points (surface layer 2-10cm of soil) in each ecological site. After being thoroughly mixed, put about 100g of soil into a germfree plastic bag as one sample, and then all the samples were stored in 0℃-4℃ freezer in the lab. Isolations were carried out within two months.

2.2 Isolation methods

Tap water agar + wheat straw medium (TWA + W), Bangladesh Red agar medium, Czapek agar medium and Czapek-Dox agar medium were used. Soil-dilution and soil plate method were adopted. The single spore cultures were made for each fungal isolate.

2.3 Identification

Taxonomic determinations were made mainly according to the cultural and morphological characters in the fit culture condition for each fungal isolate.

2.4 Dried culture making

The method “drying down cultures for the herbarium” traditionally used in the International Mycological Institute, England was followed.