Hydropisphaera peziza (Tode) Dumort. 1822
Details
Biostatus
Nomenclature
Classification
Associations
Descriptions
CONIDIAL STATE: Acremonium sp.
Mycelium not visible, or white and growing around the perithecial bases; hyphae unbranched, septate, thin-walled, c. 4 µm wide, arising from the cells of the base of the perithecia. Perithecia solitary to gregarious, yellow to orange, globose to urniform, 370-420 µm high x (250-) 370-430 (-550) µm wide, becoming collabent when dry, not changing colour in 3% potassium hydroxide. Perithecial wall 30-50 (-70) µm thick. Surface view: cells circular, 10-15 µm in greatest dimension, thin-walled. Longitudinal section: outer region 15-30 (-50) µm wide, cells circular, 10-15 µm in greatest dimension, thin-walled. Inner region 15 µm wide, cells flattened and compacted, thin-walled. Perithecial hairs lacking, or short, triangular, orange; composed of a fascicle of septate, unbranched, thin-walled hyphae. Perithecial papilla lacking or short and acute; formed of narrow hyphal elements arising from the inner region of the perithecial wall; ostiolar canal periphysate. Asci clavate, (40-) 60-75 (-100) x (5-) 8-10 (-14) µm, 8-spored; apices flat, simple; bases pointed; ascospores biseriate above, uniseriate below, forming throughout the length. Ascospores ellipsoidal, (9-) 11-14 (-17) x (3-) 5-6 µm, equally 2-celled, striate or smooth, not constricted or slightly constricted at the septum, hyaline.
CHARACTERISTICS IN CULTURECMD : 1-5 cm diam., opaque, white to pale pink or pale brown, sparse aerial mycelium, margin slightly undulate, non-aromatic, medium non pigmented, perithecia forming within 1 month, homothallic. ME: 0.5-2 cm diam., opaque, white to pale pink, aerial mycelium sparse, margin undulate, nonaromatic, medium non-pigmented. OA: 1.5-7 cm diam., opaque, white to tan, flat, with hyphal rope-like strands, margin slightly undulate, non-aromatic, medium non-pigmented, perithecia forming within 1 month, homothallic. WAS: 1 cm in diam., translucent, nearly invisible, aerial mycelium lacking, margin slightly undulate, non-aromatic, medium non-pigmented. Phialophores forming only on CMD and OA from surface of agar and aerial mycelium, unbranched, monophialidic, aseptate or rarely sep tate, straight, smooth, (23-) 30-40 (-65) µm long, 2-3 µm wide basally, 1-2 µm wide at the unflared tip. Phialoconidia ellipsoidal becoming elongated, (3.5-) 7-9 (-13) x 3-4 µm, unicellular, hyaline, without a basal abscission scar; arising in basipetal succession, held in a hyaline drop of liquid at the tip of each phialide.
Nectria peziza is common in the northern hemisphere and has many synonyms (Samuels 1976). It has been µmply described and illustrated by Booth (1959), Hanlin (1963), Gams (1971), and Samuels (1976).
Nectria peziza is closely related to N. suffulta. The usually smooth perithecial wall of the ascocarp of N. peziza is not as wide as the hirsute wall of N. suffulta. Short, inconspicuous hairs may occasionally arise from the perithecial wall of N. peziza, but they are apparent only under high magnification. N. peziza is temperate in distribution and homothallic whereas N. suffulta is tropical in distribution and heterothallic (Samuels 1976).
Superficially N. peziza resembles N. vulpina and N. manuka. It is readily distinguished from these two species by the thin-walled, globose cells that make up its much thicker perithecial wall.
According to Nannfeldt (1932) the type species of Perrotiella Naoumoff (P. uralensis Naoumoff), described as a discomycete, is N. peziza.