Sigarispora ononidis Qing Tian, Thambug., Camporesi & K.D. Hyde, sp. nov.
Index Fungorum number: IF 551729, Facesoffungi number: FoF 01639, Fig. 2
Etymology: In reference to its occurrence on Ononis sp., ononidis meaning “of Ononis“.
Holotype: MFLU 15–2667

Saprobic on the dead stem of Ononis spinosa L. in terrestrial habtats. Sexual morph Ascomata 240 – 311.5 μm diam. (x̄  = 287.2 μm, n = 10), perithecial, solitary, scattered to gregarious, immersed or semi-immersed to erumpent, gregarious, circular, globose or subglobose, coriaceous, black, ostiolate, smooth-walled. Ostiole central, rounded, with a pore-like opening. Peridium 250 – 320 μm wide × 196 – 250μm high (x̄ = 279 × 220.5 μm, n = 10), two-layered, outer layer composed of irregular, thick-walled, brown to dark brown cells of texture angularis and inner layer with slightly, smaller cells of texture angularis. Hamathecium comprising 1 – 3 μm wide, branched or simple, septate, cellular, pseudoparaphyses, embedded in agelatinous matrix, between and above the asci. Asci 96 –  169 × 17 – 19 μm (x̄ = 120.6 × 18 μm, n = 10), 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to clavate or broader-clavate, long pedicellate, apically rounded, with an ocular chamber. Ascospores 27 – 34 × 11 – 12 μm (x̄ = 29 × 11.7 μm, n = 10), overlapping uni-seriate or bi-seriate, yellowish brown to dark brown, ellipsoid to fusiform or cigar-shaped, 3 – 5-septate or rarely muriform with one vertical septa, slightly curved, constricted at the central septum, darkened, with rounded ends, smooth-walled, without a sheath. Asexual morph Undetermined.

Material examined: ITALY, Province of Forlì-Cesena, Valbura-Premilcuore, on dead stem of Ononis spinosa (Fabaceae), 18 June 2014, Erio Camporesi, IT1941 (MFLU 15–2667, holotype); ibid., (HKAS 92413, isotype); ex-type living cultures, MFLUCC 14–0613, KUMCC 15–0524.

Notes: Sigarispora ononidis is introduced here as a new species which is morphologically similar with species in Sigarispora, a genus established by Thambugala et al. (2015a). Sigarispora ononidis differs from other species of Sigarispora in having 3–5-septate or rarely muriform ascospores, without a mucilaginous sheath (Fig. 2). Phylogenetic analyses of combined genes indicated that the ex-type strain of S. ononidis clustered within the clade of Sigarispora (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Phylogram generated from Maximum likelihood (RAxML) analysis based on combined LSU, SSU, ITS and TEF1 sequence data of species of Lophiostomataceae.Maximum likelihood bootstrap support values greater than 50 % are indicated above or below the nodes, and branches with Bayesian posterior probabilities greater than 0.90 are given. New taxa are in blue and ex-type strains are in bold. The tree is rooted with Melanomma pulvis-pyrius.

Fig. 2 Sigarispora ononidis (holotype) a – c Appearance of ascomata semi-immersed in the host d, e Vertical section of ascoma f Vertical section of peridium g Immature ascus h – j Mature asci with ascospores k Hamathecium n Germinated ascospore o – r Ascospores l Colony on MEA from above m Colony on MEA from below. Scale bars: a = 500 μm, b, c = 200 μm, d, e = 50μm, f = 20 μm, g – k, n=10 μm, o – r = 5 μm.