‘Hymenoscyphus’ sp. “tiny red”
Apothecia 0.5-0.7 mm diam., long and narrow stipe, when fresh hymenium pale yellowish, receptacle with very fine radiate pattern of orange-brown to reddish elements. Developing usually on small darkened patches on recently fallen leaves, sometimes with a narrow, black line around the edge of the darker area.
Yellow-brown to reddish pigment released into KOH. Excipulum (squash) of cylindric to short-cylindric cells with walls slightly thickened, overlaid with a layer of long-cylindric, meandering cells with walls thickly encrusted. Asci 110-120 × 11-12.5 μm, broad-cylindric, tapering slightly to broadly rounded to subtruncate apex, wall thickened at apex with tiny, amyloid pore toward the inner part of the wall, short basal region, no croziers, 8-spored, uniseriate. Ascospores 11-13 × 6-7.5 μm, ovate, symmetrical, hyaline, 0-septate.
Ascospores have a very distinctive germ pore, irregularly triangular-shaped cell, attached to spore half way along one side of the triangular cell. Consistently seen across collections.
On recently fallen leaves of Nothofagus fusca and N. solandri.
Notes
Placed within Hymenoscyphus for pragmatic reasons. Although not genetically within this genus, it is close to other species that are still named Hymenoscyphus (e.g. H. metrosideri), and cannot clearly be placed in any other current genus.
This species was not detected in any of the culturing or 454 sampling of living Nothofagus leaves.