Tasmaniomyxa umbilicata, a new genus and new species of myxomycete from Tasmania.

Abstract

A new genus and species of myxomycete, Tasmaniomyxa umbilicata, is described based on numerous observations in Tasmania and additional records from southeastern Australia and New Zealand. The new taxon is characterized by an unusual combination of characters from two families: Lamprodermataceae and Didymiaceae. With Lamprodermataceae the species shares limeless sporocarps, a shining membranous peridium, an epihypothallic stalk, and a cylindrical columella. Like Didymiaceae, it has a soft, flaccid, sparsely branched capillitium, with rough tubular threads that contain fusiform nodes and are firmly connected to the peridium. Other characters of T. umbilicata that also occur in many Didymiaceae are the peridium dehiscing into petaloid lobes, the yellow, motile plasmodium, and the spores ornamented with larger, grouped and smaller, scattered warts. The transitional position of the new taxon is reflected by a three-gene phylogeny, which places T. umbilicata at the base of the branch of all lime-containing Physarales, thus justifying its description as a monotypic genus.