Stray Studies in the Coronophorales (Pyrenomycetes) 4-8 - ASCOfrance

318 J. A. Nannfeldt(22) Nitschkia velutina (Petr.) Nannf. nov. comb.Biciliospora velutina Petr., Sydowia 6(5-6):429 (1952). — Typus: Puerto Rico, Earle 284(n.v.).Similar to N. acanthostroma.Subicular hyphae dichotomously branched, theirterminations short, often conical or subglobose (not spiny). Ascocarps 0.5-0.6 mm.Asci 8-sporous. Spores narrowly ellipsoid to subcylindrical, mostly straight,19-30x4.5-7 ¡xm, hyaline, with numerous droplets and at each end with a filiform(ca. 10 ftm long) appendix, curved backwards. (Compiled from the diagnosis.)DISTRIBUTION: Tropical America (Puerto Rico). Only the type collection.The above list is not exhaustive. There hide certainly in all warmer countries andin the South Temperate Zone a number of undescribed species as well as suchdescribed in the most unexpected genera. Also several (non-European) fungi knownto me only from literature may be valid species, although their true affinities andtheir distinctness remain doubtful until their types have been examined, e.g. thefollowing:Fracchiaea australis Speg. in sched., illustrated by Fitzpatrick (1924: pi. 10 fig. 5) and due toits "Quellkorper" regarded by him (I.e. p. 108) as a Cryptosphaerella.Coelosphaeria corticata Ell. & Ev. from USA (Missouri), regarded by Fitzpatrick (1923:38)after studying type material as a Coronophorella (asci 8-sporous, spores "moderately curved,10-14x3 ft").Tympanopsis coelosphaerioides Penz. & Sacc. var. minor Teng (1932). The main species isthe bitunicate Auerswaldia examinans (Mont. & Berk.) Sacc. (cp. Chapt. 4), but according toTeng's description and illustration (1934:370) his variety seems to be widely different andperhaps a true Nitschkia, marked by deeply cupulate ascocarps (0.28-0.45 mm), 8-sporousasci, mostly uniseriate, ellipsoid to inaequilateral spores, 11-15x4.5-6.5 pm, usually uniguttate,with eventually smoky-yellow wall.Nitschkia hainanensis Teng & Ou in Ou (1936). The description and illustration of thisspecies from China (Hainan) indicate a Nitschkia, close to N. floridana but probably distinct,the main differences being the minute roughness of the ascocarps and the larger spores(18-32x4-5 ixm).Schizocapnodium sarcinellum Fairm. (1921). The very unsatisfactory type specimen (fromUSA: New York) was studied by Petrak (1952a:265). From his description and drawingsMiiller & Arx (1962:819) suggested that it might be congeneric with Gaillardiella pezizoidea(cp. Chapt. 4 above). If it is Coronophoralean at all, it is in my eyes rather a species ofNitschkia, as there is no sign of the ringshaped thickening of the peridium, characteristic ofGaillardiella. The "double-spores" are clearly an artifact due to beginning decay and the verydark spore wall may have the same cause. An exacter disposition may perhaps be possiblewhen the mycoflora of the type area has become better known.6. The Species of AcanthonitschkeaThe changed delimitation of Acanthonitschkea, as motivated in Chapt. 4, with thepresence (at least on the subiculum) of strong, dark, unseptate bristles as the leadingSvensk Bot. Tidskr. 69 (1975)