Rediscovery, resurrection and lectotypification of endemic Isoetes sampathkumarnii L. N. Rao from India

An interesting species of Isoetes was collected from Jambughoda, Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat. After a review of literature and comparison of the morphological characters with type specimens, it was identified as I. sampathkumarnii L. N. Rao. It is endemic species of south India and rediscovered after a lapse of 63 years. The species shows several features that make it unique in the genus. Earlier, I. sampathkumarnii was also treated as synonym of I. coromandelina L.f. and I. sahyadrii Mahabala. However, it has an idiosyncratic velum character and spore ornamentation that makes it different from other species. Hence, the authors resurrected it as a distinct species. The original material is ambiguous hence, a lectotype of I. sampathkumarnii has been designated here.

Two New Russula Species (Fungi) from Dry Dipterocarp Forest in Thailand Suggest Niche Specialization to This Habitat Type

Dry dipterocarp forests are among the most common habitat types in Thailand. Russulaceae are known as common ectomycorrhizal symbionts of Dipterocarpaceae trees in this type of habitat. The present study aims to identify collections of Russula subsection Amoeninae Buyck from dry dipterocarp forests in Thailand. A multi-locus phylogenetic analysis placed Thai Amoeninae collections in two novel lineages, and they are described here as Russula bellissima sp. nov. and R. luteonana sp. nov. The closest identified relatives of both species were sequestrate species suggesting that they may belong to drought-adapted lineages. The analysis of publicly available ITS sequences in R. subsect. Amoeninae did not confirm evidence of any of the new species occurring in other Asian regions, indicating that dry dipterocarp forests might harbor a novel community of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Macromorphological characters are variable and are not totally reliable for distinguishing the new species from other previously described Asian Amoeninae species. Both new species are defined by a combination of differentiated micromorphological characteristics in spore ornamentation, hymenial cystidia and hyphal terminations in the pileipellis. The new Amoeninae species may correspond to some Russula species collected for consumption in Thailand, and the detailed description of the new species can be used for better identification of edible species and food safety in the region.

Finding Hidden Outliers to Promote the Consistency of Key Morphological Traits and Phylogeny in Dennstaedtiaceae

With the development of open science and technological innovation, using sharing data and molecular biology techniques in the study of taxonomy and systematics have become a crucial component of plants, which undoubtedly helps us discover more hidden outliers or deal with difficult taxa. In this paper, we take Dennstaedtia smithii as an example, based on sharing molecular database, virtual herbarium and plant photo bank, to clarify the outliers that have been hidden in Dennstaedtia and find the key morphological traits with consistent of molecular systematics. In molecular phylogenetic analyses, we used rbcL, rps4, psbA-trnH and trnL-F sequences from 5 new and 49 shared data; the results showed that Dennstaedtia smithii is nested within Microlepia rather than Dennstaedtia. We further studied the morphological characters based on the phylogeny result and found that D. smithii is distinguished from other species of Dennstaedtia by spore ornamentation and the unconnected of grooves between rachis and pinna rachis. According to morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies, our results supported that D. smithii should be a new member of Microlepia and renamed Microlepia smithii (Hook.) Y.H. Yan. Finding hidden outliers can promote the consistency of morphological and molecular phylogenetic results, and make the systematic classification more natural.

Greetings from belowground: two new species of truffles in the genus Pachyphlodes (Pezizaceae, Pezizales) from México

Pachyphlodes is a lineage of ectomycorrhizal, hypogeous, sequestrate ascomycete fungi native to temperate and subtropical forests in the Northern Hemisphere. Pachyphlodes species form ectomycorrhizae mainly with Fagales hosts. Here we describe two new species of Pachyphlodes, P. brunnea, and P. coalescens, based on morphological and phylogenetic analysis. Pachyphlodes brunnea is distributed in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León in northern México, occurring with Quercus and Juglans species. It is characterized by its dark brown peridium, white gleba, and spores with capitate columns. Pachyphlodes coalescens is distributed in the states of Michoacán and Tlaxcala in central and southwestern México co-occurring with Quercus and is distinguished by its reddish-brown peridium, light yellow gleba, and spore ornamentation. Both species, along with P. marronina, constitute the Marronina clade. This clade contains North American species characterized by a brown peridium and spores ornamented with capitate spines to coalesced spine tips that form a partial perispore.

SPORE MORPHOLOGY OF SOME BRYOPHYTA IN EGYPT

In this work, spore morphology of eight species, Tortula muralis, Tortula brevissima, Aloina brevirostris, Syntrichia leavipila, Microbryum clavallianum (Pottiaceae); Funaria hygrometrica, Entosthodon muhlenbergii, Entosthodon attenuates (Funariaceae); were examined by Light microscopy (LM) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All spores are small; the length of polar axis is between 7.5 ?m and 18.5 ?m, equatorial diameter is between 10.5 ?m and 27 ?m. The smallest spores of them are Tortula brevissima and the biggest spores of them are Entosthodon attenuates. The shapes of the spores are determined as suboblate for Tortula muralis, Aloina brevirostris, Syntrichia leavipila, and oblate for Tortula brevissima, Funaria muhlenbergii, Funaria hygrometrica, Entosthodon attenuates. The ornamentation observed can be regulate, verrucate- regulate, baculate, verrucate, clavate- foveolate, clavate, foveolate- psilate on the distal pole, spore ornamentation of the proximal face is different or less complex than the distal face. We can concluded that the spore ultrastructure give important role for identification and taxonomic significant.

On the spore ornamentation of the microsoroid ferns (microsoroideae, polypodiaceae)

Microsoroideae is the third largest of the six subfamilies of Polypodiaceae, containing over 180 species. These ferns are widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World and Oceania. We documented the spore ornamentation and integrated these data into the latest phylogenetic hypotheses, including a sampling of 100 taxa representing each of 17 major lineages of microsoroid ferns. This enabled us to reconstruct the ancestral states of the spore morphology. The results show verrucate ornamentation as an ancestral state for Goniophlebieae and Lecanoptereae, globular for Microsoreae, and rugulate surface for Lepisoreae. In addition, spore ornamentation can be used to distinguish certain clades of the microsoroid ferns. Among all five tribes, Lecanoptereae show most diversity in spore surface ornamentation.

Rediscovery of Diplazium procumbens (Athyriaceae) in Peninsular Malaysia after more than 70 years, with notes on the morphology, spore ornamentation and anatomy

Recent floristic sampling in Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, Malaysia resulted in recollection of a rare Diplazium species in Peninsular Malaysia, D. procumbens, a poorly known species which was first described by R.E. Holttum in 1940. In this paper, we provide comprehensive morphological and anatomical description of the species based on our thorough examination of specimens including the type, and designate a lectotype and isolectotype. We also studied the spore ornamentation of D. procumbens using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and discovered that the spores have folds and non-fenestrate perine. Descriptions of the habitat and ecology are also presented.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with adaptive plants in gold mine tailing

Tuheteru FD, Husna, Albasri, Arif A, Wulan SA, Kramadibrata K. 2019. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with adaptive plants in gold mine tailing. Biodiversitas 20: 3398-3404. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are fungi from division Glomeremycota within the kingdom Fungi, which have a broad ecological range and symbiosis with a variety of vegetations, including vegetations in gold post-mining areas or gold tailings. The study of identifying types of AMF in gold tailings in Southeast Sulawesi is still limited. The purpose of this study was to identify the types of AMF in the rhizosphere of adaptive plants in gold tailings land in Bombana District, Southeast Sulawesi. Soil samples were collected from adaptive plants in Perseroan Terbatas (PT) Panca Logam Makmur, Bombana District, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. AM Fungi spores were isolated and identified based on their morphological characteristics (shape, size, color, attached hyphae, and spore ornamentation). Five types of AMF were identified, namely Glomus aggregatum, Sclerocystis sinuosa, Acaulospora scrobiculata, A. tuberculata, Scutellospora pellucida, and two genera that had not been identified up to species, Glomus sp. and Scutellospora sp. In addition to spores, the symbiosis of AM Fungi with adaptive plants was also demonstrated by the structure of AM Fungi in plant roots with a rate of 74% colonization. S. pellucida and S. sinuosa were recorded as new species in Indonesia and Sulawesi, respectively. While A. tuberculata is a type of AMF that enriches AMF diversity in Southeast Sulawesi.

Morphological variations in geographically isolated populations of Bryum coronatum Schwager (Bryaceae, Bryales)

Four populations of Bryum coronatum Schwager (Bryaceae, Bryales), collected from widely separated geographic regions - Sambalpur, Odisha; Lataguri, West Bengal; Gangtok and Changu, Sikkim; were studied with regard to variation in taxonomically significant morphological features as well as their dimension of both gametophytic and sporophytic features. In this study special emphasis has been put on spore dimension and spore ornamentation pattern as revealed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Dimension of taxonomically significant morphological parameters were measured for four populations and were subjected to analysis of variance (One way ANOVA) and Principal component analysis (PCA). ANNOVA results showed significant variation for all features except leaf length and upper leaf cell breadth. PCA results corroborated ANNOVA result only for upper leaf cell breadth. Spore ornamentation as revealed through SEM, is found to be bacculate in all the populations. CCA graph revealed that summer, winter temperature and monsoon rainfall influence leaf size, lamina cell size, capsule size, peristome size and spore size. With the help of above mentioned observations and statistical analysis the morphological variations, due to phenotypic plasticity have been quantified to reach at a meaningful conclusion. Taxonomic significance of spore dimension and wall ornamentation is also discussed.