New dung-inhabiting ascomycetes from Germany extend diversity in Parascedosporium and Scytalidium, including updated descriptions of two Collariella species

Abstract

An investigation of coprophilous fungi from Germany resulted in the collection of new species of Scytalidium and Parascedosporium. This latter genus was subjected for the first time to a multilocus analysis based on internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), D1–D3 domains of the nuclear rDNA large subunit (LSU), beta-tubulin (TUB2), and a fragment of calmodulin (CAL) corroborating the synonymy of the three species located in the genus, which was performed a long time ago based only on ITS sequences. Moreover, the description of Collariella carteri was emended to include the morphology of a specimen isolated during this study. Collariella carteri was characterized by short and setae-like terminal ascomatal hairs, which was the main characteristic to distinguish it from the closest relatives. However, our isolate presents spirally coiled hairs. The type strain of C. pachypodioides, which is the closest species to C. carteri was also studied, and a modern description and illustrations are here provided for the first time since this species was described in 1945. The delimitation of both species needs to be done by using molecular data due to the absence of morphological differences between them.