Neocallimastix cameroonii G.W. Griff., Dollhofer, Veronika & T. Callaghan sp. nov.
Index Fungorum number: IF551212; Facesoffungi number: FoF01018; Fig. 1
Etymology: In reference to the breed of sheep from which it was isolated.
Holotype: ABS CaDo3a

An obligately anaerobic fungus isolated from the faeces of Cameroon sheep (Ovis aries) kept atWildpark Poing (Germany). The fungus forms a determinate monocentric thallus and spherical to ovoid sporangia. The rhizoidal system emanating from the base of the sporangium is often bifurcated at base of sporangium. Sporangia ovoid to spherical (30 – 50 μm), nonpapillate. Zoospores formed abundantly, spherical (6 – 9 μm diam.) with multiple (9 – 15) flagella 15 – 25 μm long.

Material examined: The reference culture is lodged in biorepositories at: Aberystwyth University (ABS CaDo3a, holotype); Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London (K(M), isotype); and University of Jena and Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany (Jena Microbial Resource Collection JMRC:SF:012157, isotype).

The D1/D2 region of the 28S large ribosomal subunit (LSU) wa s amplified using the primers NL1 (GCATATCAATAAGCGGAGGAAAAG) and NL4 (GGTCCGTGTTTCAAGACGG; ca. 750 bp amplicon), as described by Dagar et al. (2011). The sequences for all three isolates was identical and that for isolate CaDo3a is deposited at GenBank (ID: KR920745). Phylogenetic reconstruction of the two genera of anaerobic fungi with multiflagellate zoospores (Neocallimastix and Orpinomyces) with the reference isolate for the genus Anaeromyces as outgroup recovered CaDo3a and several unpublished sequences from India in a distinct clade with high bootstrap support (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 Morphology of Neocallimastix cameroonii (holotype) a, b Muiltiflagellate zoospores c Zoospore formed readily in culture e – f Thalli consistently monocentric and often with bifurcation of main rhizoid at the base of the sporangium (arrowed in d and f). Scale bars a, b = 10 μm, c – f = 50 μm.

Fig. 2 Phylogenetic analyses based on maximum likelihood statistics, Tamura – Nei substitution model and nearest – neighbor Interchange (NNI) ML heuristic method using MEGA 5.2 (Tamura et al. 2011). The bootstrap values are based on 1000 replicates.