English
Verrucostoma dankookensis sp. nov., a Novel Fungus in the Family Bionectriaceae
Won- Hyeok Choi, Seong Hwan Kim*
Department of Microbiology, Dankook University, Cheonan, 31116 Korea
*Email: piceae@dankook.ac.kr
Although the family Bionectriaceae (Hypocrales, Ascomycota) contain an ecologically diverse variety of fungi, species of Verrucostoma have been rarely reported. A new Verrucostoma fungus was found from residual organic matter in a laboratory sink at Dankook University, the Republic of Korea. The fungus was isolated by plating the residual organic matter directly onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) supplemented with antibiotics. The fungal colony grew slowly, initially white, and gradually turned red-brown at maturity. The texture of the colony was compressed into densely arranged hyphae, showing concentric and radial patterns on both surfaces. The opposite side was chestnut, and surface erosion caused a distinct central depression. Morphologically, this fungus was different from known Verrucostoma species. With multilocus lineage analysis using the ITS, LSU rDNA, TEF gene, and Actin gene sequences, this fungus belongs to within Verrucostoma but is classified into a separate lineage, supporting its novelty. We designate it provisionally as Verrucostoma dankookensis. This appears to be the first record of Verrucostoma found in South Korea, highlighting the hidden diversity of Bionectriaceae in indoor settings.
