Search

A new black truffle species with a basal cavity, Tuber melanoexcavatum, is identified and described. The new species is morphologically similar to T. pseudobrumale, T. pseudoexcavatum, and T. mesentericum in having a basal cavity. However, T. melanoexcavatum differs from T. pseudobrumale and T. pseudoexcavatum in having black pyramidal warts and 5 to 8 spored asci, and differs from T. mesentericum by having spiny ascospores and 1 to 5 spored (rarely 6 spored) asci. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that T. melanoexcavatum is most closely related to T. pseudobrumale, but the two still clearly differentiate. Tuber melanoexcavatum grows as a mycorrhizal association with Cyclobalanopsis glaucoides. Tuber melanoexcavatum is considered an edible black truffle species and is indigenous to China.

Palms (Arecaceae) are substrates for a highly diverse range of fungi. Many species are known as saprobes and many are important plant pathogens. Over the course of our studies of micro-fungi from palms in Thailand, two new taxa were discovered. Morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS, LSU, SSU, and tef1-α sequence data revealed their taxonomic positions within Massarinaceae. There are currently ten genera identified and accepted in Massarinaceae, with the addition of the two new genera of Haplohelminthosporium and Helminthosporiella, that are introduced in this paper. Each new genus is provided with a full description and notes, and each new taxon is provided with an illustration for the holotype. A list of identified and accepted species of Helminthosporium with morphology, host information, locality, sequence data, and related references of Helminthosporium reported worldwide is provided based on records in Species Fungorum 2021. This work provides a micro-fungi database of Haplohelminthosporium, Helminthosporiella, and Helminthosporium which can be modified and validated as new data come to light.

During our investigation of palm fungi in Thailand, two interesting taxa from Elaeis guineensis and Metroxylon sagu (Arecaceae) were collected. Based on phylogenetic analyses of a combined dataset of ITS, LSU, rpb2, and tub2 nucleotide sequences as well as unique morphological characteristics, we introduce the new genus Haploanthostomella within Xylariales, and a new species Endocalyx metroxyli. Additionally, in our study, the genus Endocalyx is transferred to the family Cainiaceae based on its brown conidia and molecular phylogenetic evidence.