Mortierella formosana S.F.Wei, H.M. Ho & K. Voigt, sp. nov.
MycoBank: MB812482; Facesoffungi number: FoF01017; Figs. 173 and 174
Etymology: Referring to Taiwan where the fungus was collected.
Holotype: TNMF 28605
Colonies growing on PDA at 25 °C for 7 days reaching 9 cm in diam., white, zonnate, rosette, with abundant aerial hyphae. Sporangiophores on CMA, vertically arising from aerial hyphae, numerously along the sporangiophores, usually simple, sometimes producing a branch from the upper portion of sporangiophore near the middle, (57-) 106 – 116 (−227.5) μm long, 4 – 5 μm wide near base, tapering upward reaching 2.5 – 4 μm wide near sporangium, basal rhizoid indistinct. Sporangia globose, multisporous, hyaline, 11.5 – 25.5 μm in diam., wall smooth, after deliquescence, leaving collar and in distinct columella. Spores globose, wall smooth, hyaline, 6.5 – 7.5 μm in diam. Chlamydospores and zygospores not observed. Odour faint.
Material examined: TAIWAN, Pingtung County, Pingtung University of Science and Technology, from soil, July 2014, by S.F. Wei, PUSTF9A (TNMF 28605, holotype), BCRC FU30355, living culture deposited at Jena Microbial Resource Collection (University of Jena and Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany) (JMRC:SF:012102).
Other specimen: National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, PingtungCounty, from soil, July 2014, by SF Wei, PUSTF9C.
Notes: According to Gams (1977), this fungus belongs to Section Mortierella, and similar to M. polycephala Coemans by having the following characters in common: multisporous sporangia; sporangiophores having branches arising above the middle of the sporangiophore and with smooth walled spores. However, they can be differentiated by the spore characters which are globose and 6.5 – 7.5 μm in diam. in our isolates and globose or oval and 10 – 12 μm in the latter. Molecular data revealed that our two isolates are clustered in one clad and can be separated from the other species of Mortierella in phylogenetic tree based on ITS sequenced data.We thus identified this fungus as a new species.