Aliquandostipite crystallinus, a new ascomycete species from wood submerged in freshwater habitats

Abstract

Aliquandostipite crystallinus, a new species of loculoascomycete from wood submerged in freshwater habitats in Costa Rica, Panama, USA (TN), and Venezuela, is described and illustrated. The characteristic features of the new species are sessile, light to dark brown, globose to subglobose, papillate ascomata; broad, brown, septate stoloniferous hyphae connecting adjacent ascomata; large, thin-walled peridial cells; clavate to cymbiform, fissitunicate asci; fusiform, one to three septate, multiguttulate, pale brown ascospores with short, cellular, hyaline, tapering, apical appendages; ascospores surrounded by a long, broad, fusiform gelatinous sheath that elongates in water; and refractive acicular crystals that form within the ascospores and hyphae upon preservation in lactic acid or glycerin. Aliquandostipite khaoyaiensis is reported for the first time from the Western Hemisphere in Costa Rica on wood submerged in freshwater streams.