Ten interesting species of aquatic Hyphomycetes from South Africa

Examination of the foam spora of South Africa has revealed the presence of ten interesting species from nine genera, seven of which are new records for the African continent and three for South Africa. These are Anguillospora crassa Ingold, Condylospora spumigena Nawawi, Flabellospora verticillata Alasoadura, Lateriramulosa uni-inflata Matsushima, Lemonniera alabamensis Sinclair & Morgan-Jones, Lemonniera filiformis Petersen ex Dyko, Lunulospora cymbiformis Miura, Speiropsis irregularis Petersen, Tetrachaetum elegans Ingold and Tricellula aquatica Webster.


INTRODUCTION
The following are some preliminary results of an extensive project under way to document the aquatic hyphomycete flora in South Africa.Among the many well-known aquatic hyphomycetes recovered and the many resulting taxonomic problems gener ated are ten interesting fungi, each of which is at least a new record for the Republic.Subsequent publications by the authors will include complete lists of all the fungi recorded.
At various sites throughout South Africa, foam samples were recovered from flowing fresh waters and fixed with IKI immediately to prevent germination of the spores.Within no specific time period the samples were filtered through 8 (xm pore size millipore filters.The specimens thus collected were mounted in lactophenol cotton blue and identifications made on spore morphology.

Condylospora spumigena Nawawi (Fig. IB).
Malaysia is the type locality of this fungus (Nawawi, 1976a), although it has often been recorded elsewhere prior to description.Obstipispora chewaclensis Sinclair & Morgan-Jones (Sinclair & Morgan-Jones, 1979a) described from Alabama, U.S.A. is very likely the same fungus.It has also been recorded from Japan (Miura, 1974;Tubaki, 1960, 1966), Papua, New Guinea (Tubaki, 1965) and India (Ingold & Webster, 1973). Nawawi's (1976a) type is 10-15 septate and has an overall length of 72-104 nm with a 30-120° bend about halfway through the length with the proximal half being longer.One spore collected near Mariepskop Air Force Base in the N.E.Transvaal was unusual in having no septa and an extra 180° sigmoid bend fitted tightly next to the normal flexion.This may represent a new species.Another spore, as figured, from the same locality has 2 more septae than the type.This spore also has a shorter proximal half which is slightly swollen being 1-2 |im wider than the type but is probably close enough to be considered the same species.Ingold (1956)  Flabellospora verticillata Alasoadura (Fig. 1C).Nigeria is the type locality of this fungus.Prior to description (Alasoadura, 1968) it was figured as unknown conidia from the U.S.A. (Conway, 1970), West Scotland (Ingold, 1973), West Indies (Hudson & Ingold, 1960), Papua, New Guinea (Tubaki, 1965) and on the African continent from Nigeria (Ingold, 1956(Ingold, , 1959)), Sierra Leone (Le'John, 1965), Ghana (Dixon, 1959) and Uganda (Ingold, 1958a).Of all of these records, only that from the U.S.A. indicates the presence of the main axis 'stalk' cell generically characteristic for Flabellospora.Ingold's (1973) West Scotland collection does not agree geographi cally, as Alasoadura (1968) concluded the fungus is tropical in nature.Since description, only a Malaysian collection (Nawawi, 1976b) has been positively identified.Our South African collection, from a border zone between temperate and subtropical climates, is a new record for the Republic.
Lateriramulosa uni-inflata Matsushima (Fig. ID).New Britain of the Solomon Islands is the type locality of this fungus (Matsushima, 1971).Prior to description this fungus was figured from England (Ingold & Ellis, 1952) and the U.S.A. (Crane, 1968).It has, since description, been recorded from Japan (Miura, 1974) and Czechoslovakia (Marvanova, 1973).Although this species is most often recorded as foam spora, the type was described from leaves in a terrestrial habitat.Marvanova (1973) believes this hyphomycete to be 'water borne' rather than truly aquatic.One of our collections from the area near Mariepskop Air Force Base differs slightly from the type in that the singly opposing branch is not as inflated at the base.Our collections are a new record for the African continent.Lemonniera alabamensis Sinclair & Morgan-Jones (Fig. 2A).Previous records of this fungus are known only from the type locality, Alabama, U.S.A. (Sinclair & Morgan-Jones, 1979b).Among our collections there appears to be more variability in the number of septa per radiating branch.The type specimen is described as having 2 septa per branch but our specimens vary in having from 1-4.One collection from the Stellenbosch area was significantly larger, the branches being 55-65 [im x 3,5 [xm as opposed to 30-35 urn X 2-3 |im of the type.This specimen is intermediate between L. alabamensis and L. centrosphaera Marvanova (Descals, Webster & Dyko, 1977).These collections are new records for the African continent.Lemonniera filiformis Petersen ex Dyko (Fig. 2B).New York, U.S.A. is the type locality of this species and it has only been recorded elsewhere in England (Descals, Webster & Dyko, 1977).Our collections are therefore new records for the African continent.Lunulospora cymbiformis Miura (Fig. 2C).The type locality is Japan and has only been recorded from other localities in that country (Miura, 1972(Miura, , 1974)).Our records are therefore new to the African continent.Speiropsis irregularis Petersen (Fig. 2D).New York, U.S.A. is the type locality of this species (Petersen, 1963).Prior to description, spores of this fungus appear to have been recorded among unknown conidia types from Canada (Ingold, 1960a) and Hungary (Gonczol, 1971).Subsequent to description, Miura (1974) recorded this fungus from Japan but we question his identification.From his illustration one does not get the impression that the spore developed as a result of acropetal cell proliferation as is described for the type of the genus, Speiropsis pedatospora Tubaki (Tubaki, 1958), as well as for the type of Petersen's species.Our collections are new records for the African continent.

Collections examined:
Collections examined: Tetrachaetum elegans Ingold.(Fig. 2E).The type locality is England (Ingold, 1942).This species is cosmopolitan having been recorded from such widespread areas as Ireland (Fenton, 1950), Sweden (Nilsson, 1958), Hungary (Gonczol, 1971), Australia (Cowling & Waid, 1963), Japan (Tubaki, 1960;Miura, 1974) Hawaii (Ranzoni, 1979), and the U.S.A. (Peterson, 1963).Ingold (1958Ingold ( , 1960b) ) has made collections of this species from Zimbabwe.Our collections are therefore new to South Africa.Tricellula aquatica Webster (Fig. 2F).For this species there is only the type locality, England (Webster, 1959) and one other England collection (Hudson & Sutton, 1964) on record.Our collections from the Olifants River, Transvaal show a wide range of spore sizes, up to twice the size of the type, as figured herein.Some of these larger spores may bear septa in the apical cells.It is possible that they are either unusual forms of the fungus or represent a new species.Further work will clarify this.These collections are new records for the African continent.