The genus Dictyota is a widespread group of brown algae mostly found in tropical and subtropical waters. The phenotypic variability of many of its species has caused taxonomic confusion, making molecular techniques necessary for accurate species identification. In this study, we integrate morphological observations with molecular phylogenetic analyses based on psbA and cox1 sequences to describe Dictyota pervagata sp. nov., a previously hidden lineage within Dictyota ceylanica. This species has a broad distribution across tropical basins and exhibits a notable morphological variation despite low genetic diversity.
Exserticlava basieccentrica sp. nov. was described from submerged wood in a freshwater stream in Taiwan. This species is distinguished from other Exserticlava species by its conidia, which possess an eccentric basal cell. A key to the accepted Exserticlava species is provided.
Nawawia cylindrophora sp. nov. is described and illustrated using light and scanning electron microscopy. It differs from other species in the genus by having cylindrical conidiophores. A synopsis of accepted Nawawia species is provided to facilitate their identification.
More than two decades after the first checklist of marine macroalgae known from Bermuda and all of the literature citations for those reports, an update is presented including 489 species, 58 more than listed in 2003. During the interim between lists, a volume of taxonomic literature has been added for the islands, and the number of species endemic to Bermuda has dramatically increased. The list includes 73 Heterokontophyta, including Pelagophyceae, Phaeophyceae and Xanthophyceae, 290 Rhodophyta and 126 Chlorophyta, as well as several additional species reported from Bermuda in the past but presently questioned or excluded in the flora. The three phyla contain 43 species (8.8%) that are endemic to Bermuda, an increase of 7.4% of the flora since the original 2003 checklist. Amongst them, the red algae have the greatest number of added new species (53) and the greatest recognized endemism (14.1%) due to the emphasis on the molecular phylogenetics of this group over twenty years. Several new records are reported here for the first time in the flora including Codium spongiosum, Dictyota friabilis, Gracilaria venezuelensis, Halarachnion louisianense, Sargassum ramifolium and Ulva ohnoi.
The family Arecaceae harbors a remarkable fungal diversity, which remains largely unexplored in the Amazon region. Among its members, a & ccedil;ai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) stands out as a palm of great economic importance for this region. However, knowledge regarding the fungal taxa associated with this palm tree remains limited and requires taxonomic updates. In this work, we present a comprehensive checklist of ascomycetes associated with E. oleracea in Brazil. The compilation includes information on colonized substrates, locations, ecological groups, and references for each reported species. For taxa that have undergone taxonomic reassignments, updated nomenclature is included. In total, 141 species across 113 genera were documented, encompassing endophytes, phytopathogens, saprobes, and fungicolous fungi. The genera Xylaria (six species), Dictyosporium, and Fusarium (four species each) were the most frequently represented. Six species of asexual ascomycetes are reported for the first time in the Brazilian Amazon, two are new records for Brazil (Parasympodiella eucalypti and Tubeufia sympodiophora), one for South America (Ac-rodictys balladynae), and three for the Americas (Didymobotryum korthalsiae, Melanographium laxum, and Wiesneriomyces conjunctosporus). This checklist represents a valuable contribution to the documentation of fungal diversity associated with Arecaceae in the Amazon rainforest.
The alpine sweet grass, Anthoxanthum monticola, is a perennial plant belonging to the Poaceae. Two fungal strains, isolated from asymptomatic leaves of this plant, were characterized. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on a combined matrix of ITS-rDNA region, parts of the genes coding for beta-tubulin (tub2) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2) indicated that both strains represent a new Didymella species forming a sister lineage with D. indica in the family Didymellaceae. Didymella anthoxanthi is described as novel species. This new species can be characterized by ostiolate pycnidia with pseudoparenchymatous pycnidial wall, flask-shaped or ampulliform conidiogenous cells and aseptate ellipsoidal to ovoid conidia. In addition, this is the first report of the association of the genus Didymella with A. monticola worldwide.
China is one of the countries with the richest diversity of Dicranum species globally, with more than 40 recorded species. However, this genus requires further study due to taxonomic challenges and the absence of comprehensive revisions in the country. During our recent expedition to Jilin and Hebei Provinces, we discovered two Dicranum species that could not be referred to any species previously recorded in China. Further morphological and molecular-phylogenetic analyses, employing five chloroplast markers (rpoB, rps4-trnT, rps19-rpl2, trnH-psbA, and trnL-trnF) and one nuclear marker (the ITS region), indicate that these species are D. acutifolium and D. pacificum, respectively. Both species are new records for China. In addition, detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations of these two species based on Chinese specimens are provided.
During a survey of fungal diversity conducted in Golestan National Park in June 2025, Lasiobotrys lonicerae, the type species of the genus, was collected from Lonicera sp. The fungus occurred on leaves and thin branches, forming solitary or aggregated, circular, conspicuous black leaf spots. These lesions developed from a plate-like subcuticular hypostroma that ruptured the cuticle to produce clusters of sclerotium-like stromata, from which ascomata subsequently formed. Because the familial placement of Lasiobotrys has remained unresolved, phylogenetic analyses were conducted using sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions 1 and 2, including the intervening 5.8S nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS), together with partial nuclear 28S ribosomal DNA (LSU). Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods were employed. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on combined ITS-LSU datasets, with strong statistical support, indicated that the genus Lasiobotrys should be placed in the family Sympoventuriaceae (order Venturiales). In addition, new information on diagnostic morphological characters of Lasiobotrys is provided.
Three species of the genus Achnanthidium K & uuml;tzing were found in a limnocrene spring (Sakarba & scedil;& imath;) in Eski & scedil;ehir, T & uuml;rkiye; they are documented and described based on light and scanning electron microscopy observations. The species A. jiuzhaiense and A. turkdoganiae sp. nov. belong to the general A. pyrenaicum complex, while A. levkovianum sp. nov. falls within the A. minutissimum complex. A. jiuzhaiense and A. turkdoganiae can be distinguished from A. pyrenaicum by valve apices, round and slightly drawn-out in A. pyrenaicum vs subcapitate to capitate in A. jiuzhaiense and rostrate in A. turkdoganiae. Achnanthidium jiuzhaiense has unique S-shaped hymenate pores connecting areolae along the striae. Achnanthidium levkovianum sp. nov. is distinguished from A. minutissimum by the long transapically elongated formation on the external valve and the evenly distributed striae on the valve. Valve outline, broadly linear-lanceolate with rounded valve apices in A. levkovianum are different from the linear-lanceolate with protracted, rostrate to subcapitate apices in A. minutissimum. The three species are compared to other related species: A. turkdoganiae to A. deflexum, A. druartii, A. linannulum, A. sublanceolatum and A. chitrakootense; and A. cf. convergens. The species are found in a unique spring environment with, alkaline waters of reasonable oxygen levels, pH 7.7-7.9 and high conductivity (545-575 & micro;S.cm-1).
The composition, species richness, and distribution of liverworts in the alpine grassland of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) were analyzed. Collections were made from the flanks of five volcanoes in the TMVB, covering an elevation range of 3,900-4,200 m. Twenty-five liverwort species and two subspecies were identified, grouped into 16 genera and 11 families, with Gymnomitriaceae being the most represented with five species. Beta diversity analysis revealed patterns of turnover and nestedness that suggest moderate to high variation in species composition among sampling sites. Most species were growing on rocks, as this was the most common substrate, although some grew exclusively on soil or on both substrates. Most species (72%) have a broad global distribution, and only 20% are endemic to the Neotropical region. This study indicates that liverwort species are an important floristic component of the alpine grasslands of Mexico. The information obtained can be used as a starting point for a monitoring program to analyze the effect of disturbance and climate change on the distribution of this group of plants.
The 1654 publication by Thomas Pankow is traditionally considered to be the first mention of myxomycetes, and also serves as the source of the first illustration of these organisms. However, it remains largely unknown to the myxomycete community that Pankow was not the author of these illustrations nor even a contemporary of the printmaker who executed them. These in the period 1578-1584. We analysed Pankow's original publication, Herbarium Portatile, which explains the origin of the 1363 engravings that form the core of his book, as well as Thurneysser's Historia sive plantarum omnium. In our opinion, L. Thurneysser should be credited in the history of myxomycete studies as the conditional discoverer of the first myxomycete, and the date of discovery should be shifted back to the 16th century.
This paper presents the assessment results of 125 species of bryophytes in continental Africa, from a sample of 1500 species randomly selected from around the world. This is part of a contribution towards one of the headline indicators of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Red List Index, which measures trends in extinction risk of biodiversity. Assessments of the selected species followed the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria and represent a significant further step in the evaluation of threatened African bryophytes. Of these 125 species, 33 species are found to be threatened with extinction (either Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered) or are Near Threatened under IUCN Red List criteria, of which 27 species of these are formally assessed as threatened, across 20 African countries. One further species has a range below the Criterion B threshold for Vulnerable but is not facing any significant threats, while four poorly known species are here provisionally assessed as being Data Deficient. The other 84 species included in this sample of African species and presented in Table 1 are Least Concern, due to their large geographic ranges, therefore suggesting that 21.6% of African bryophytes overall are threatened with extinction. The most recurrent threat is ongoing, relentless, small-scale deforestation, followed by land conversion to agriculture and urban expansion, and most threatened bryophytes are those localised endemics known only from single or very few locations. A further 41 bryophyte species endemic to Madagascar and/or on other islands of the western Indian Ocean, including 5 that are also found in Africa, have already been treated in a separate publication.
The phylum Cyanophyta (Cyanobacteria; recently renamed to Cyanobacteriota) consists of the classes Cyanophyceae and Vampirovibriophyceae; in terms of the nomenclature of prokaryotes, they are Oxyphotobacteria and Vampirovibrionia. These taxa correspondingly represent photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic cyanobacteria. The members of former class generally rely on the Mn4CaO5-cluster of PSII (the unique photoenzyme converting molecular water into triplet dioxygen). Global oxygenic photosynthesis is mediated by white light resonating chlorophyll a, which has a long wavelength (ca. 700 nm) absorbance peak. At the same time, a minor group of cyanobacterial strains assimilates, either adaptively or permanently, far-red (> 700 nm) light quanta absorbed by "red-shifted" chlorophylls d and f. Improving the coverage of strains capable to produce such chlorophylls not only helps better evaluate the environmental diversity of cyanobacteria, and enrich their taxonomy; it also provides potential models for in-depth research on the topology and role(s) of red-shifted chlorophylls in oxygenic photosynthetic apparatus. Resulting from present study, in addition to already known 43 cultured strains adaptively expressing chlorophylls d and f under far-red light, 12 new strains were obtained from different loci and environments of Europe and Antarctica. Phylogenomic analysis of these strains allowed us to classify them to the orders Nostocales, Coleofasciculales, Nodosilineales/Oculatellales (provisionally), and Leptolyngbyales. Except furnishing taxonomic descriptions of all these strains, a polyphasic approach applied to some of them allowed us to propose, under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) provisions, two new species Kovacikia brocelensis sp. nov. and Leptolyngbya fluviusnevae sp. nov. During the course of our work we encountered taxonomic difficulties with "Leptolyngbya-like" strains that forced us to delve into problematic rearrangement of this phylogenetically heterogeneous group into monophyletic taxa.
Ingoldian hyphomycetes have conidia that are either sigmoid or branched, and they are restricted to aquatic environments. These fungi are the primary microorganisms responsible for decomposing submerged leaf litter and facilitating nutrient cycling in these ecosystems. To better understand the occurrence and distribution of this group in the Neotropical region, we evaluated the taxonomic composition of Ingoldian hyphomycetes associated with decomposing leaves in Atlantic Forest streams located in forest fragments and in areas altered by land use in Espirito Santo (SE Brazil). In this study, we provided descriptions, comments, and worldwide geographical distribution for the species found, as well as illustrations and a key of Ingoldian hyphomycetes of the State of Espirito Santo. Leaves of the fast-decomposing species Miconia chartacea and the N-fixing Inga laurina were incubated in the studied streams for colonization by aquatic fungi whose sporulation was induced in the laboratory. We found twelve species of Ingoldian hyphomycetes, distributed in 10 genera and three classes. Among them, we have new records for the Americas (Triramulispora duobinibrachiata), Brazil (Anguillospora gigantea), and Espirito Santo (Filosporella versimorpha, Flagellospora curvula, Lemonniera alabamensis, Pyramidospora quadricellularis, and Triscelophorus deficiens). This study expands the knowledge about the diversity of Ingoldian hyphomycetes in Brazil and contributes to foundations for future studies on the conservation and ecological role of these decomposers in neotropical streams.
Dendroligotrichum dendroides (Polytrichaceae) is a conspicuous moss of temperate South American forests, notable for its tall growth form and cushion-like colonies. Despite its striking morphology and abundance in southern Chile, little is known about its ecological requirements. We investigated the light niche of two populations located in climatically contrasting forests; the Contulmo National Monument in a Mediterranean-temperate transition, and the perhumid Alerce Andino National Park. At each site, we quantified canopy openness, population density, sporophyte frequency, and co-occurring vascular plants. Results showed clear differences between sites in light niche. In Contulmo, D. dendroides was most abundant and reproductively successful under intermediate shade (15-20% canopy openness), whereas in Alerce Andino it occupied relatively brighter microsites (20-35% canopy openness). The species was absent from deep shade and rare in large gaps at both sites. These patterns reflect a trade-off between light availability and water retention, likely driven by local precipitation regimes. Co-occurring plant assemblages further highlighted the distinct bioclimatic context of each site. Our findings demonstrate that D. dendroides exhibits ecological plasticity across environmental gradients, adjusting its microhabitat use and reproductive success according to local climatic and biotic conditions. This study contributes to understanding the functional ecology of complex mosses with internal conducting tissues and emphasizes the adaptive potential of bryophytes in heterogeneous forest understories.
The first record of Tarzetta oblongispora in T & uuml;rkiye, outside continental Europe, is presented based on morphology and ITS rDNA sequence comparison. The Mediterranean ecology in association with Pinaceae of this fungus is confirmed.
