Aquapeziza: a new genus from freshwater and its morphological and phylogenetic relationships to Pezizaceae

An investigation of freshwater fungi on submerged wood in southwestern China led to the discovery of a new discomycete species from a small stream in Yunnan Province. The taxon is characterized morphologically by its combined characters of epigenous, white ascomata, ovoid, amyloid asci and multi-guttulate, single-celled, smooth, globose ascospores. Because the taxon cannot be accommodated in any known genus based on morphological characters and molecular data (28S and ITS rDNA sequences) a new genus and species Aquapeziza globispora is proposed to accommodate it. The new genus is circumscribed and a description and illustrations of the new species are provided. Relationships of Aquapeziza in Pezizaceae are inferred from 28S and ITS rDNA sequence analyses.