Two new marine fungi from China and Singapore, with the description of a new genus, Sablecola (Halosphaeriales, Ascomycota)

Abstract

Two new marine fungi from woody substrata collected on sandy beaches of the Pearl River Estuary in southern China (brackish water) and the East Coast Beach in Singapore (fully saline seawater) are described. A new genus, Sablecola E.B.G. Jones, K.L. Pang & Vrijmoed, is introduced to accommodate Sablecola chinensis E.B.G. Jones, K.L. Pang & Vrijmoed, sp. nov, with ascospores having two polar and four equatorial, flattened, attenuate, strap-like appendages with parallel striations, which disintegrate into fine threads when mounted in seawater. Sablecola chinensis can be differentiated from other taxa with a similar ascospore appendage arrangement, such as Halosphaeria and Ocostaspora, by its ascospore appendage morphology. Remispora minuta E.B.G. Jones, K.L. Pang & Vrijmoed, sp. nov. has hyaline and membranous ascomata bearing ascospores with moustache-shaped appendages that are characteristic of Remispora species. This species cannot be accommodated in Haligena, a genus with spoon-shaped appendages at the point of attachment to the ascospores, which are attenuate and channelled.Key words: Haligena, marine fungi, Ocostaspora, Remispora, taxonomy.