Introducing Juncigena alexandrina sp. nov. (Ascomycota, Juncigenaceae) from the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, based on morphology and multi-locus phylogeny

Abstract

A novel marine fungal species, Juncigena alexandrina is described and illustrated from a decaying stem of Phragmites australis collected from El-Shatby beach of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt. Phylogenetic analyses of the combined SSU, ITS, and LSU sequence data placed the new taxon within Juncigena as a phylogenetically distinct species within a clade containing J. adarca and J. fruticosae. Morphologically, the new fungus is characterized by having semi-immersed to erumpent ascomata with a long ostiolar neck covered with branched hairs, 8-spored, cylindrical to clavate asci, and hyaline, fusiform, 3-septate ascospores. It differs from the only known sexual morph in the genus, Juncigena adarca, by having wider, semi-immersed to erumpent ascomata with an ostiolar neck covered by long, branched hairs, wider asci and larger ascospores. Juncigena fruticosae is known only from its asexual stage. The discovery of Juncigena alexandrina expands current understanding of species diversity, morphological variation, and substrate associations within the genus Juncigena.