Xylaria wuzhishanensis Y. P. Wu & Q. R. Li 2022, sp. nov.

Xylaria wuzhishanensis Y.P. Wu & Q.R. Li, sp. nov. (Fig. 5) MycoBank number: MB 842170 Type:— CHINA, Hainan Province, Wuzhishan City, Wuzhishan Nature Reserve (18.541805°N, 109.412245°E), elev. 892 m, on dead wood of a plant roots (Oleaceae sp.), November 2020, Youpeng Wu and Lili Liu, 2020WZS35 (GMB0074, holotype; KUN-HKAS 12634, isotype; ex-type living culture, GMBC0074). Etymology: Referring to its collection location, Wuzhishan Mountain from where the species was first isolated (China). Saprobic on dead wood roots, forming on the host surface. Sexual morph: Stromata 0.3–0.8 cm long × 0.6–1.2 cm broad (x = 0.6 × 0.8 cm, n = 10), semiglobular or irregularly globose, whole stromata up to with flattened or slightly convex top. Surface of stromata black, with raised blackish dots. Perithecia 300–600 μm high × 200–400 μm diam. (x = 400 × 300 μm, n = 10), oval to spherical, embedded, closely arranged, interior white. Ostioles papillate, surrounded with white tissue. Asci 235–366 × 11–20 μm (x = 293 × 14.2 μm, n = 30), 8-spored, unitunicate, cylindrical, long-stipitate, apically rounded, with a J+, rectangular or urn-shaped, apical ring, blue staining in Melzer’s reagent, 6.7–10.5 μm (x = 8.7 μm, n = 30) high, 4.2–6.5 μm (x = 5.3 μm, n = 30) wide. Ascospores 23–30.5 × 7–9 μm (x = 26.5 × 8 μm, n=30), brown to black, unicellular, ellipsoid to inequilateral, with broadly rounded ends, smooth, with a conspicuous slanted germ slit nearly one-third spore-length, lacking appendages and sheaths. Asexual morph: Undetermined. Culture characteristics: Colonies on OA reaching 3–4 mm diam. after 2 weeks at 25 °C. White at first, white at first, upright, velvety with irregular outgrowths or furrows, with a peripheral fan-shaped extension spreading toward the edge; reverse light grey in the center, white marginal area. After 4 weeks, colonies on OA reaching 9 cm diam., white greyish, velvety or inflorescence, appressed with entire margins; reverse black, with brownish ring. No conidia were observed. Notes: Based on the multi-gene phylogenetic analyses (Fig. 1), X. wuzhishanensis is most closely related to X. schweinitzii. Morphologically, X. wuzhishanensis differs from X. schweinitzii by its semi-globular or irregularly globose stromata. Xylaria wuzhishanensis shows similar traits of X. atrosphaerica (Cooke & Massee) Callan & J.D. Rogers, X. globosa (Spreng. ex Fr.: Fr.) Mont., and X. lepidota Y.M. Ju et al. with semiglobular or irregularly globose stromata. But, X. wuzhishanensis can distinguish from X. atrosphaerica by its larger ascospores (23–30.5 × 7–9 μm vs. 17–25 × 6–10 μm) with a shorter germ slit (Callan et al. 1990). The surface of stroma lacks crackle of X. wuzhishanensis, which can make a distinction between X. globosa and X. lepidota (Ju et al. 2009, Fournier et al. 2018).Published as part of Wu, You-Peng, Pi, Yin-Hui, Long, Si-Han, Liu, Li-Li, Zhang, Xu, Long, Qing-De, Lin, Yan, Kang, Ying-Qian, Kang, Ji-Chuan, Wijayawardene, Nalin N. & Li, Qi-Rui, 2022, Morphology and phylogeny reveal two novel Xylaria (Xylariaceae) species from China, pp. 130-146 in Phytotaxa 550 (2) on page 141, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.550.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/664106