Four New Species Records of Umbelopsis (Mucoromycotina) from China

Four species of Umbelopsis newly found in China, that is, U. angularis, U. dimorpha, U. nana, and U. versiformis, are reported in this paper. Descriptions and illustrations are provided for each of them. 1. Introduction The genus Umbelopsis Amos and H. L. Barnett, typified by U. versiformis Amos and H. L. Barnett, was placed in Deuteromycetes by Amos and Barnett in 1966 [1]. Von Arx [2] proposed that this genus should be classified in Zygomycetes in 1982. Meyer and Gams [3] erected the family Umbelopsidaceae of Mucorales to accommodate it in 2003. This family occupies a basal phylogenetic position within the Mucorales [4]. Members of this genus grow slowly and form a velvety layer; sporangiophores typically arise from vesicles on substrates, cymosely or umbellately branched; sporangia are uni- and/or multispored and ochraceous, reddish, or hyaline; columellae are usually small or absent; sporangiospores are variously shaped and have the same color as the sporangia; chlamydospores, if present, are often abundant and mostly intercalary on mycelia [3, 5–8]. So far, 15 species have been described in this genus, 13 of which are accepted by Meyer and Gams [3] and Mahoney et al. [8]. Three species have been recorded from China by Chen [9]: U. isabellina (Oudem.) W. Gams (as Mortierella isabellina Oudem.), U. ramanniana (M？ller) W. Gams (as M. ramanniana (M？ller) Linnem.), and U. vinacea (Dixon-Stew.) Arx (as M. vinacea Dixon-Stew.). In this paper, four species newly recorded from soil and plant residues in China are described and illustrated. 2. Materials and Methods Details of materials studied are presented under the description of each taxon. Strains found in China were isolated using the method of Zheng et al. [10]. For morphological observations, fungi grew at 20°C or 25°C for 6–10 days under natural light on malt extract agar ((MEA) 2% malt extract, 2% glucose, 0.1% peptone, and 2% agar), cornmeal agar ((CMA) 2% cornmeal and 2% agar), and potato dextrose agar ((PDA) 20% potato, 2% glucose, and 2% agar). Maximum growth temperatures were tested twice on PDA. For inducing the formation of zygospores, 0.1% lecithin was added to PDA [10]. Capitalized color designations refer to the Color Standards and Color Nomenclature published by Ridgway [11]. 3. Taxonomy 3.1. Umbelopsis angularis W. Gams & M. Sugiy., in Sugiyama et al., Mycoscience 44: 221, 2003. (Figure 1). Figure 1: Umbelopsis angularis. (a) Sporangiophores with various types of branching. (b) Branching pattern of lower parts of sporangiophores. (c) Sporangiophores with different sizes and shapes of