Spiromastix saturnispora, a new species from Indonesian soil

Abstract

Spiromastix saturnispora, isolated from a soil sample collected from central Java in Indonesia, is described and illustrated as a new species. The new species was compared with the type of Spiromastix, S. warcupii, and is similar in having brownish ascomata with a peridium of a loose network of delicate hyphae, peridial appendages which are curved in the manner of a scimitar and never completely coiled, and the absence of an anamorph. The ascospores of S. saturnispora are characterized as large oblate, 3.2–4.8 × 2.5–3 μm, punctate, and with an equatorial rim, which serves to distinguish the species from S. warcupii and other known species.