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Pyxine tiinae, a new foliose lichen species, is described from an alpine locality in Peru. The new species is characterized by convex and radiating, grey lobes, a K-cortex and K-epihymenium, the presence of terpenes, and by comparatively long pycnoconidia. A phylogenetic analysis places P. tiinae as sibling to the genus Culbersonia, although the morphological characters do not fit with either this genus or with Pyxine as currently circumscribed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new species of Laboulbenia are described, adding substantially to the known species recorded from Heteroptera hosts. Previously, only 12 species of Laboulbenia and only 96 of the approximate 2325 known species of Laboulbeniales have been recorded on the Heteroptera. The addition of these four new species of Laboulbenia, occurring on two genera within Veliidae, brings the total number to 100 species. These species are recorded on the genera Paravelia and Oiovelia collected from Brazil, Suriname, and Peru. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the poorly investigated family Teloschistaceae in South America, mostly from Bolivia and Peru, were examined using molecular and morphological data here for the first time. In recent phylogenetic reclassifications of Teloschistaceae, South American representatives were poorly represented but shown to belong to subfamilies Teloschistoideae and Xanthorioideae. In this study, we expanded the sampling of South American taxa and investigated mainly the lobate, sublobate, and squamulose members of Caloplaca s.l., using morphological characters and a molecular phylogeny based on a combined three-locus data set (one mitochondrial and two nuclear loci). Building upon new phylogenies at the family and subfamily levels (Teloschistoideae), we propose here three new genera: Andina, Aridoplaca, and Cinnabaria, with the type species Andina citrinoides, Aridoplaca peltata, and Cinnabaria boliviana. We also propose to reduce Tarasginia to synonymy with Sirenophila and Tayloriellina to synonymy with Villophora and introduce three new combinations: Dufourea ottolangei, D. volkmarwirthii, and Villophora erythrosticta. Scutaria andina is reported as new to Bolivia. A critical revision of the subfamily Brownlielloideae confirmed recent findings that it is an artifactual taxon based on a "chimeric" data set, with the type genus being part of Teloschistoideae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species, Huriella flakusii , is described from the arid region of the Colca Canyon in southern Peru, and is characterized by squamulose, orange thalli and abundant, crowded and aggregated, usually flexuous when compressed, reddish apothecia. The thalline cortex, proper margin and hypothecium are paraplectenchymatous. The ascospores are broadly ellipsoid, 10‒15 × 5.0‒9.5 µm, with rather thin septa, 2‒4 µm. Phylogenetic analyses of the DNA sequences of ITS, nuLSU and mrSSU rDNA markers revealed that the new species is nested within the Amundsenia-Squamulea subclade in the subfamily Xanthorioideae , and has a sister group relationship to Huriella loekoesiana from South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Beauveria is considered a cosmopolitan anamorphic and teleomorphic genus of soilborne necrotrophic arthropod-pathogenic fungi that includes ecologically and economically important species. Species identification in Beauveria is difficult because of its structural simplicity and the lack of distinctive phenotypic variation. Therefore, the use of multi-locus sequence data is essential to establish robust species boundaries in addition to DNA-based species delimitation methods using genetic distance, coalescent, and genealogical concordance approaches (polyphasic approaches). In this regard, our study used multilocus phylogeny and five DNA-based methods to delimit species in Beauveria using three molecular makers. These polyphasic analyses allowed for the delimitation of 20-28 species in Beauveria, confirming cryptic diversity in five species (i.e. B. amorpha, B. bassiana, B. diapheromeriphila, and B. pseudobassiana) and supporting the description of B. peruviensis as a new taxon from northeastern Peru. The other five species were not evaluated as they did not have enough data (i.e. B. araneola, B. gryllotalpidicola, B. loeiensis, B. medogensis, and B. rudraprayagi). Our results demonstrate that the congruence among different methods in a polyphasic approach (e.g. genetic distance and coalescence methods) is more likely to show reliably supported species boundaries. Among the methods applied in this study, genetic distance, coalescent approaches, and multilocus phylogeny are crucial when establishing species boundaries in Beauveria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lepraria cryptovouauxii is described as a new semicryptic species similar to L. vouauxii, from which it differs geographically (South America) and phylogenetically; both species differ in nucleotide position characters in nucITS barcoding marker. Lepraria harrisiana is reported as new to South America and L. nothofagi as new to Antarctica, Bolivia, and Peru. Lepraria incana (South American records are referred to L. aff. hodkinsoniana) and L. vouauxii (most South American records are referred to L. cryptovouauxii) should be excluded at least temporarily from the lichen list of South America. All records previously referred to as L. alpina from Bolivia and Peru belong to L. nothofagi. Most of Bolivian records of L. pallida belong to L. harrisiana. Lepraria borealis and L. caesioalba should be included in L. neglecta. Lepraria achariana, L. impossibilis, and L. sipmaniana are sequenced for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater ascomycetes are the predominant fungal colonizers of ligno-cellulosic substrates submerged in freshwater habitats. Although considered important decomposers and a food resource in freshwater food webs, little is known about the influence of environmental factors on their geographical distribution patterns, species richness and community structure. We undertook a study of the distribution of freshwater lignolytic ascomycetes in the Madre de Dios River basin in Peru along an elevational gradient from the headwater regions dominated by the Inambari and Araza Rivers to the lowlands of the Madre de Dios River. The gradient extended from 218 to 3870 m; collections were made at low (<300 m), medium (300-1000 m) and high (>1000 m) elevations. Three separate collecting trips were conducted during the dry seasons over 3 years. Samples of submerged woody debris were returned to the University of Illinois where they were incubated in moist chambers and examined for the presence of sexual and asexual reproductive structures, which were used for identification. GPS location, altitude, water temperature and pH were measured at the time of collection. A total of 2187 vouchered fungal collections representing 268 fungal taxa were collected. One hundred and fifty-nine taxa were collected at low elevations, 201 at middle elevations and 56 at high elevations. Only 33 of 268 taxa occurred at all three elevational ranges. Canonical analyses of principal coordinates and Sørensons Similarity Index of species based on presence/absence data revealed different structuring of freshwater fungal communities at low, middle, and high elevations, indicating a change in species composition along the Andes to Amazon elevation gradient. Mantel's tests demonstrated that beta diversity is strongly impacted by both elevation and pH as rapid taxonomic turnover was associated with both these factors. Of 140 species found in their sexual reproductive state, only ten occurred at all three elevational ranges. The most commonly occurring species was Annulatascus velatisporus, a species with a worldwide distribution. Of 128 taxa found in their asexual reproductive state, 23 occurred at all three elevational ranges. The most commonly collected species was Candelabrum broccchiatum, also a species with a worldwide distribution. Most of the taxa reported from Peru have been reported previously from Asian and/or Australian freshwater tropical habitats. One hundred and three species are new records for South America and 137 species are new records for Peru. About 80 species found in Peru have a pan-tropical distribution. Whether these distribution patterns exist due to vicariance or geodispersal remains to be determined. This study indicates that the composition of fungal communities in mountainous areas is influenced by elevation and has implications for the effects of global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Through a culture-based survey of living sapwood and leaves of rubber trees (Hevea spp.) in remote forests of Peru, we discovered a new major lineage of Ascomycota, equivalent to a class rank. Multilocus phylogenetic analyses reveal that this new lineage originated during the radiation of the ‘Leotiomyceta’, which resulted not only in the evolution of the Arthoniomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Geoglossomycetes, Lecanoromycetes, Leotiomycetes, Lichinomycetes, and Sordariomycetes, but also of the majority of hyperdiverse foliar endophytes. Because its origin is nested within this major burst of fungal diversification, we could not recover strong support for its phylogenetic relationship within the ‘Leotiomyceta’. Congruent with their long phylogenetic history and distinctive preference for growing in sapwood, this new lineage displays unique morphological, physiological, and ecological traits relative to known endophytes and currently described members of the ‘Leotiomyceta’. In marked contrast to many foliar endophytes, the strains we isolated fail to degrade cellulose and lignin in vitro. Discovery of the new class, herein named Xylonomycetes and originally mis-identified by ITSrDNA sequencing alone, highlights the importance of inventorying tropical endophytes from unexplored regions, using multilocus data sets to infer the phylogenetic placement of unknown strains, and the need to sample diverse plant tissues using traditional methods to enhance efforts to discover the evolutionary, taxonomic, and functional diversity of symbiotrophic fungi. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A new ascomycete species, Natipusilla bellaspora, collected from submerged woody debris in a freshwater stream at Los Amigos Biological Station, Madre De Dios in the Peruvian Amazon is described and illustrated. This fungus is characterized by small, globose to subglobose, hyaline ascomata; small, globose to subglobose, eight-spored fissitunicate asci; one-septate, multiguttulate ascospores with two different gelatinous sheaths, an outer amorphous sheath that enlarges in water and an inner sheath that has a distinctive persistent shape and is attached to the ascospore apex. Morphologically N. bellaspora differs from other Natipusilla species in having larger ascospores and two ascospore sheaths. A second Natipusilla species, N. limonensis, is reported for the first time from Peru. Based on the unique morphological characters of taxa in Natipusilla and results of previous molecular phylogenetic analyses with other members of the Dothideomycetes, we establish Natipusillaceae fam. nov. for this unique tropical freshwater clade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new species, Nycteromyces orientalis, Dimeromyces capensis, and D. streblidarum, belonging to the Laboulbeniales (Fungi, Ascomycota) and collected on bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae), are described and illustrated. The new species of Nycteromyces is the second described in this rarely collected genus, with the type species, N. streblidinus, previously collected only three times from Venezuela, Panama, and Honduras. The material for our new species comes from Australia, India, Philippines, and Tanzania, and morphological characters of these new collections require emendation of the original generic diagnosis. The distribution of N. streblidinus is also extended with additional collections from Costa Rica and Peru. We describe two new species of Dimeromyces from streblid hosts, the first report of any members of this large, diverse genus on this host family. Newly described taxa are compared with known species and the genera Nycteromyces and Dimeromyces discussed in relation to other known Laboulbeniales taxa.