Abstract
Representative specimens of fifteen Daldinia spp. were studied for ultrastructural characteristics of their ascospores by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The ornamentation of their outermost spore layers was found to be species-consistent, confirming the results of concurrent studies on the morphology of their teleomorphs and anamorphs, secondary metabolite profiles and PCR-based genetic fingerprints. Daldinia spp. may either show smooth or transversally striated ascospores. The spores of the species within the latter group are always ellipsoid-equilateral to ellipsoid-inequilateral with narrowly rounded ends. Smooth, broadly ellipsoid to cylindrical ascospores were observed in all species (D. caldariorum, D. fissa and D. loculata) that are known to produce their stromata on substrates damaged by fire. The ascospores of D. concentrica differed from those of D. childiae (i.e., the cosmopolitan taxon previously regarded as D. concentrica ss. auct.) and other Daldinia spp. in showing a very faint ornamentation, which only became visible at 10000× magnification by SEM. A specimen collected on the isle of Jersey (Channel Islands, UK) showed morphological similarities to the pantropical D. eschscholzii, but its ascospores appeared smooth by SEM, and it may therefore represent a previously undescribed species.
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Dedicated to Professor Yoshinori Asakawa, Tokushima, Japan, on the occasion of his 60th birthday
PH-R Life Science Center Natural Products
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Stadler, M., Baumgartner, M., Ide, K. et al. Importance of ascospore ornamentation in the taxonomy of Daldinia . Mycol Progress 1, 31–42 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-006-0003-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-006-0003-1