title: Five new species of the obligate mycoparasite Syncephalis (Zoopagales, Zoopagomycotina) from soil.
abstract: More than 520 soil samples were surveyed for species of the mycoparasitic zygomycete genus Syncephalis using a culture-based approach. These fungi are relatively common in soil using the optimal conditions for growing both the host and parasite. Five species obtained in dual culture are unknown to science and are described here: (i) S. digitata with sporangiophores short, merosporangia separate at the apices, simple, 3-5 spored; (ii) S. floridana, which forms galls in the host and has sporangiophores up to 170 µm long with unbranched merosporangia that contain 2-4 spores; (iii) S. pseudoplumigaleta, with an abrupt apical bend in the sporophore; (iv) S. pyriformis with fertile vesicles that are long-pyriform; and (v) S. unispora with unispored merosporangia. To facilitate future molecular comparisons between species of Syncephalis and to allow identification of these fungi from environmental sampling datasets, we used Syncephalis-specific PCR primers to generate internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences for all five new species.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Plant Pathology, 1453 Fifield Hall, PO Box 110680, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611.
authors.forename: Gerald L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Benny
authors.affiliation: b Department of Science Education, National Taipei University of Education, 134, Sect. 2, Heping E. Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Man
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: a Department of Plant Pathology, 1453 Fifield Hall, PO Box 110680, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Lazarus
authors.affiliation: a Department of Plant Pathology, 1453 Fifield Hall, PO Box 110680, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611.
authors.forename: Matthew E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008853:Microscopy; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
keywords: Absidia; Cunninghamella; Mortierella; Mucor; Umbelopsis; culture; merosporangium; mycoparasite; zygospores