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Issue: Vol. 329 No. 3: 1 December 2017
Type: Article
Published: 2017-12-01
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.329.3.8
Page range: 269–276
Abstract views: 17
PDF downloaded: 1

Circinella simplex—a misapplied name of Mucor circinatus sp. nov.

1Post-graduate course in the Biology of Fungi. Department of Mycology. Federal University of Pernambuco. Av. Prof. Nelson Chaves, s/n, 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Post-graduate course in the Biology of Fungi. Department of Mycology. Federal University of Pernambuco. Av. Prof. Nelson Chaves, s/n, 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
National Reference Center for Invasive Mycoses (NRZMyk), Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology. Adolf Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745 Jena, Germany
Jena Microbial Resource Collection, strain collection of the University of Jena and the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology. Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745 Jena, Germany
Post-graduate course in the Biology of Fungi. Department of Mycology. Federal University of Pernambuco. Av. Prof. Nelson Chaves, s/n, 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Post-graduate course in the Biology of Fungi. Department of Mycology. Federal University of Pernambuco. Av. Prof. Nelson Chaves, s/n, 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Post-graduate course in the Biology of Fungi. Department of Mycology. Federal University of Pernambuco. Av. Prof. Nelson Chaves, s/n, 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Post-graduate course in the Biology of Fungi. Department of Mycology. Federal University of Pernambuco. Av. Prof. Nelson Chaves, s/n, 50670-420, Recife, PE, Brazil.
National Reference Center for Invasive Mycoses (NRZMyk), Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology. Adolf Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745 Jena, Germany
molecular phylogeny Mucorales Mucoromycotina taxonomy Fungi

Abstract

Circinella (Mucorales, Mucoromycotina) is morphologically similar to Mucor, differing by the production of circinate sporangiophores and sporangia with a persistent and incrusted sporangial wall. During a study on the diversity of Mucorales in areas of the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, we isolated a strain that fits the current morphological concept of C. simplex of Hesseltine and Fennell (1955) by forming simple circinate sporangiophores with secondary branches and angular sporangiospores. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on three different markers (ITS, LSU and MCM7) confirmed conspecificity of the Brazilian strain with other angular spored strains of the CBS collection including the strain studied by Hesseltine & Fennell (1955). The molecular phylogenetic analyses clearly placed these strains in the genus Mucor in the close relationship to M. laxorrhizus and M. fuscus. However, in his original description van Tieghem (1875) described and illustrated C. simplex with sporangiophores without secondary branches and globose sporangiospores. Based on these striking morphological differences combined with a differing geographic distribution, we conclude that the angular-spored strains represent a separate undescribed species for which we propose the name Mucor circinatus sp. nov.