MycoBank MB807441 Hypocrea orientalis Samuels & Petrini, in Samuels, Petrini, Kuhls, Lieckfeldt & Kubicek, Stud. Mycol. 41: 30 (1998). Holotype: BPI 1109853; ex-type culture: CBS 130428 = G.J.S. 88-81, repres. CBS 131488, G.J.S. 09-784. Phylog.: sect. Longibrachiatum. Repres. sequences: tef1: EU401581, JN175573, JQ685868; rpb2: JN175522, JQ685884. References: Samuels et al. (1998, 2012).

ADDITIONAL SPECIMEN EXAMINED.-NEW ZEALAND. SOUTH ISLAND, WESTLAND: Hari Hari, Lower Pueora Valley, on Weinmannia racemosa, 5 Apr. 1963, J. M. Dingley (PDD 20988; culture: ICMP 5426; EMBL X93966).ADDITIONAL CULTURES EXAMINED.- INDIA. Locality unknown, from sugarcane bagasse, produces cellulase, xylanase, pectinase and J-glucosidase (see references in Jong et al., 1996) (ATCC 52326, EMBL Z48935). NEW ZEALAND. SOUTH ISLAND, WESTLAND: Glandville [sic] Forest, on Nothofagus, [?1963], J. M. Dingley # 9 (CBS 243.63; EMBL X93965). SIERRA LEONE. from soil, C. T. Pyne (CECT 2606, EMBL X93929). SOUTH AFRICA. Natal, substratum unknown, 6 Apr. 1990, (PPRI 3894, EMBL X93930).

Anamorph: Trichoderma sp.
Stromata in vivo solitary or clustered in groups of a few, discrete, circular in outline, (l.0-)1.2-2.5(-3.2) mm diam, broadly attached to the substratum but with edges free, surface plane to slightly wrinkled, perithecia not evident or appearing as low and broad tubercles, ostiolar openings appearing as black dots against a lighter brown background; surface brownish-gray (6F8) when dry and becoming more red-brown in KOH; internal tissue white, not reacting to KOH perithecial wall colorless and not reacting to KOH. Stroma surface a dense region of nonpigmented, 2-3 µm wide hyphae with walls ca. 0.5 µm thick, not reacting to lactic acid; the ostiolar region of the perithecium not anatomically differentiated from the surrounding stromal surface, green in lactic acid. Tissue immediately below the stromal surface and between perithecia in the stroma of loosely interwoven, thin-walled hyphae. Internal tissue of stroma below perithecia pseudoparenchymatous with many 2-4 µm wide, long-celled hyphae, cell walls <0.5 µm thick. Perithecia crowded, tending to be ellipsoidal, (171-)187-224(-243) µm high, (100-) 117-160(-182) µm wide, ostiolar canal (54-)65-85(-98) µm long. Asci cylindrical, (61.0-) 68.5-87(-94.5) x (3.5-)4.5-6.5(-7.5) µm, part-ascospores uniseriate, ascal apex slightly thickened and with a pore. Part-ascospores monomorphic and globose to subglobose, (3.0-)3.2-4.0(-4.2) µm diam, hyaline, warted.
On SNA conidia arising from the scant aerial mycelium and uniformly dispersed throughout the colony at 30-35°C, most conidia formed at 35°C. Colonies on PDA with aerial mycelium uniformly cottony at 25-35°C, less aerial mycelium at 25°C. Colonies sterile at 20 and 35°C; conidial production most intense at 30°C, forming in broad concentric rings, Dull Green (29D-E8). Yellow pigment, variable depending on the culture, absent, very pale, or increasing in intensity from 20°C (Greenish Yellow, lA-B8) through 25°C (Vivid Yellow, 2A8) to 35°C (Pastel Yellow-Pale Yellow, 2A4-5). Conidiophores on CMD tending to form along the aerial mycelium with only a slight tendency for conidia to develop in loosely formed, small, scattered tufts. Fertile axes having a plumose aspect with phialides arising singly at the tips for an average of 45 µm before the first major branch; increasingly longer secondary branches arising below. Secondary branches only weakly branched, mainly producing phialides singly along the length with little or no tendency to form whorls of phialides. Phialides on CMD (n =152) (5.0-)7.0-12.0 (-16.5) µm long, (2.0-)2.5-3.5(-4.5) µm at the widest point, (l.2-)2.0-2.7(-4.5) µm at the base, mostly straight, less frequently hooked or sinuous, not enlarged in the middle; subtending hyphae under the phialides (n = 152) (1.7-)2.2-2.7(-3.0) µm wide. Intercalary phialides common. Conidia (n = 152)(4.0-)5.0-7.2 (-10.5) x (2.0-)2.5-3.5(-5.2) µm (l/w ratio = 2.0 ± 0.5), oblong to ellipsoidal. Chlamydospores absent or abundant on CMD reverse, (n = 120) (4.5-)6.0 -8.7(-11.0) µm diam, globose to subglobose when terminal, conforming to the shape of the cell when intercalary.

KNOWN DISTRIBUTION.- The teleomorph of this species is known from one collection made in The People's Republic of China (Yunnan Prov.) and two from New Zealand. Anamorph strains were found in Sierra Leone and South Africa.

HABITAT.- On bark or decorticated wood.

Hypocreae schweinitzii similis, a qua specie propter conidia (4.0-)5.0-7.2(-10.5) x(2.0-)2.5-3.5(-5.2) µm phialidesque (5.0-)7.0-12.0(-16.5) µm longas, (2.0-)2.5-3.5(-4.5) µm latas differt. Coloniae radius in agaro dicto `PDA' 23 mm 64 horis elapsis. Anamorphosis Trichoderma sp.
HOLOTYPUS.- G.J.S. 88-81 (cultus siccus, BPI). Culture G.J.S. 88-81; EMBL X93964.

ETYMOLOGY.- orientalis, in reference to the eastern origin of most collections.
NOTES.- Hypocrea orientalis is part of a complex species that includes T. longibrachiatum. Although H. orientalis is phenotypically distinct from T. longibrachiatum in having larger conidia, the two are evidently genetically very close, differing in a maximum of 2 base-pairs in ITS-1 and 3 in ITS-2 (Kuhls, 1997; Kuhls et al., 1997).
Hypocrea orientalis is, itself, equally genetically complex. The isozyme banding patterns (Leuchtmann et al., 1996) group the New Zealand strains independently of the remaining strains. CECT 2606 was not included in the isozyme analysis, but that analysis did place PPRI 3894 and G.J.S. 88-81 close together and in an isolated position within a larger cluster that included T. longibrachiatum. Because of their geographic isolation, it was somewhat surprising that ITS1 and ITS2 sequences of CECT 2606 (Sierra Leone) were identical to those of G.J.S. 88-81 (People's Republic of China). ITS2 sequences of PPRI 3894 and CECT 2606 were identical, but the two differed slightly (1 bp) in their ITS1 sequences (Kuhls et al., 1997).
Hypocrea orientalis has much larger conidia and a much slower growth rate, especially at 40°C, than does T. longibrachiatum. While the production of yellow pigment is a hallmark of T. longibrachiatum, of the strains of H. orientalis, only G.J.S. 88-81 produced intense yellow pigment. We cannot rule out the possibility that the inability to produce pigment by the other strains is a response to their having been kept in culture collections. Intercalary phialides, while common, are not as common in H. orientalis as in T. longibrachiatum or H. jecorina. While there is obvious genetic and phenotypic similarity of H. orientalis and T. longibrachiatum, the differences are great enough for us to distinguish the two as separate species. However, H. orientalis is the closest teleomorph that we have found to T. longibrachiatum.
In morphological terms there is little to separate any of the strains included in H. orientalis. The strain CBS 243.63 was said to have been isolated from ascospores of H. schweinitzii (CBS List of Cultures 1996) and this is Bissett's (1991c) concept of H. schweinitzii. Unfortunately, we were not able to unequivocally locate a specimen from which this culture was isolated (PDD, Sheffield, CBS). However morphological, isozyme and nucleic acid characters leave no doubt that CBS 243.63 represents this species. Hypocrea orientalis and H. jecorina are distinguished from other Hypocrea species in this complex in having a light brown stroma, as opposed to very dark brown to nearly black stroma of H. schweinitzii and H. novaezelandiae. Like H. jecorina, the originally black ostiolar openings of H. orientalis become green when reacted with lactic acid. Hypocrea jecorina and H. orientalis cannot be separated from each other on the basis of characters of their teleomorphs; the species differences are manifested in their anamorphs and cultural characters.

HOLOTYPE.- PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. Yunnan Prov.: Nature Preserve at 53 km mark on road from Mungyang to Xisshuangbanna Botanical Garden, on stump at burn site, 24 Oct. 1988, R. P. Korf (BPI, G.J.S. culture 88-81; EMBL X93964).