Seeing the invisible: A new genus and species of Sebacinales (Basidiomycota) with invisible basidiomata
Journal
Mycological Progress
Series/Report No.
Mycological Progress
Journal Volume
25
Journal Issue
1
Start Page
Article number 26
ISSN
1617416X
Date Issued
2026-04-11
Author(s)
Abstract
A new genus and species of Sebacinales with virtually invisible basidiomata is proposed as Invisibilicina chlamydospora for a specimen discovered on a decaying petiole of the fern Angiopteris lygodiifolia in Taiwan. The fungus produced pale brown single chlamydospores formed terminally on hyphae or on few swollen hyphal cells in culture, reminiscent to some species of Serendipita. By non-allantoid basidiospores with a length–width ratio < 2, the new taxon differed from Serendipita. While phylogenetic analysis showed that the lineage is distinct from both genera Sebacina and Serendipita, it is accommodated within the family Sebacinaceae chiefly based on diagnostic signatures of rDNA sequences. BLAST searches with the ITS sequence in databases revealed almost identical ITS1 and ITS2 sequences without genus or species names from environmental samples. According to these data, the new species or its close relatives may be globally widespread, but rarely encountered. The discovery confirms the superiority of multiphasic characterization of physical specimens or strains against reductionistic attempts of merely naming DNA sequences from metabarcoding approaches.
Subjects
Globulisebacina
Marattiaceae
One new genus
One new species
Sequence annotation
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Description
Article number 26
Type
journal article