Using citizen science to bridge taxonomic discovery with education and outreach.

Premise Of The Study: Biological collections are uniquely poised to inform the stewardship of life on Earth in a time of cataclysmic biodiversity loss. Efforts to fully leverage collections are impeded by a lack of trained taxonomists and a lack of interest and engagement by the public. We provide a model of a crowd-sourced data collection project that produces quality taxonomic data sets and empowers citizen scientists through real contributions to science.

Amplistroma gen. nov. and its relation to Wallrothiella, two genera with globose ascospores and acrodontium-like anamorphs.

Amplistroma is described as a new genus for A. carolinianum, A. diminutisporum, A.

A re-evaluation of genus Chaetomidium based on molecular and morphological characters.

Chaetomidium, a genus in the Chaetomiaceae, comprises 12 species that produce similar cleistothecial ascomata with a membranous, mostly pilose, peridium. Approximately six species of this genus produce some type of modified peridium composed of cephalothecoid plates that previous authors have hypothesized to be a homologous character within the genus. To better understand the phylogenetic affiliations of Chaetomidium and distribution of the cephalothecoid peridium within this genus we performed phylogenetic analyses with LSU, beta-tubulin and rpb2 sequence data.

Two new genera in the Magnaporthaceae, a new addition to Ceratosphaeria and two new species of Lentomitella.

Ceratosphaerella is described as a new genus for C. castillensis and C. rhizomorpha.

Ascoma development and phylogeny of an apothecioid dothideomycete, Catinella olivacea.

Catinella olivacea is a discomycetous fungus often found fruiting within cavities in rotting logs. Because this habitat would lack the air currents upon which discomycete species normally rely for the dispersal of their forcibly ejected ascospores, we suspected an alternative disseminative strategy might be employed by this species. An examination of the development of the discomycetous ascomata in pure culture, on wood blocks, and on agar showed that the epithecium was gelatinous at maturity and entrapped released ascospores in a slimy mass.

Leptographium piriforme sp. nov., from a taxonomically diverse collection of arthropods collected in an aspen-dominated forest in western Canada.

During a survey of fungi associated with arthropods collected in a southern boreal mixed-wood forest in Alberta we obtained 29 isolates of a unique species of Leptographium. This species displayed a distinct combination of characteristics, including curved conidia on short-stipitate conidiophores, a secondary micronematous conidial state, stalked pear-shaped cells and an optimal growth rate at 35 C, and is described as Leptographium piriforme sp. nov.

Development and dehiscence of the cephalothecoid peridium in Aporothielavia leptoderma shows it belongs in Chaetomidium.

The development of the cephalothecoid peridium of Aporothielavia leptoderma was examined using light and electron microscopy. Early stages in ascoma initiation were consistent with previous reports for other species in the Chaetomiaceae. However, as young cleistothecia increased in size, clusters of peridial cells in the outer textura angularis elongated in a radial pattern around a central cell or cell cluster to form rosettes of relatively thick-walled segments that marked the central areas of incipient cephalothecoid plates.

A functional interpretation of the role of the reticuloperidium in whole-ascoma dispersal by arthropods.

Auxarthron conjugatum (Onygenaceae) and Myxotrichum deflexum (Myxotrichaceae) are distantly related cleistothecial (gymnothecial) ascomycetes that form ascomata with strikingly similar peridia in which rigid, branched and anastomosed, thick-walled hyphae create a cage- or mesh-like enclosure (reticuloperidium). We tested the hypothesis that the reticuloperidium plays a role in dispersal mediated by arthropods by enclosing ascomata of these fungi together with flies from the family Sarcophagidae. Gymnothecia of both fungi were picked up easily when the stiff hairs of the flies impaled the ascomata by passing through the interhyphal spaces of the reticuloperidium.