Libertella-faginea_3

Description:

Libertella faginea Desm., syn.: Eutypella quaternata (Pers.) Rappaz, Eutypa quaternata (Pers.) Tiffany & Gilman, Quaternaria quaternata (Pers.) Schrt.?, DE: Vierfrchtige Quaternaria (teleomorph)Slo.:?Dat.: June 25. 2018 and July 10. 2018Lat.: 46.360489 Long.: 13.702714Code: Bot_1141/2018_DSC3017 and Bot_1146/2018_DSC3121Habitat: mountain mixed wood; Fagus sylvatica, Fraxinus ornus, Ostrya carpinifolia and Picea abies dominant trees; moderately inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect; calcareous, colluvial ground; fungus found on a thicker branch in a large pile of firewood cut down in the neighborhood waiting to be cut to smaller logs; exposed to direct rain; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, elevation 600 m (1.970 feet), alpine phytogeographical region.Substratum: dead Fagus sylvatica branch.Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta, right bank of river Soa, near Trenta 2b cottage, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC. Comments: Libertella faginea is the name used for anamorph, asexual form of quite common fungus Eutripella quaternata = Quaternaria quaternata (teleomorph form). The fungus belongs to ascomycetes. Sexual form looks like numerous black dots on bark of some deciduous trees. Most often it is seen on Fagus.Acervuli of the anamorph form are conspicuously saffron-yellow to orange and of quite different form. Conidia comes from beneath the bark in the form of highly gelatinous 'tooth paste' squeezed through tiny cracks in the bark. These tendrils and ribbons, sometimes of quite bizarre form (see Ref.4.) are essentially without internal structure under the microscope and consist of jelly like mass crowded with zillions of very thin, strongly curved (sometimes up to the form of half circle) conidia. After rain these tendrils dissolve and disappear completely from the bark surface. If one puts a piece of such infected branch in a small amount of water, the water becomes milky orange after a while. Under the microscope a single drop of this 'solution' shows astonishingly numerous conidia. This fungus is a common invader of drought damaged Fagus sylvatica and could well be involved in the death of the bark (Ref.6). Allegedly this is the first record of anamorph form of this species in Slovenia (at least according to Ref.5.). Conidia smooth, filiform, curved, abundant. Dimensions (measured across, not straightened): (16) 18 - 21.3 (21.5) (1.1) 1.2 - 1.9 (2.1) m; Q = (9.5) 9.7 - 14.6 (15.7); N = 13; Me = 18.9 1.6 m; Qe = 12. Olympus CH20, NEA 100x/1.25, magnification 1.000 x, oil; in water; fresh material; AmScope MA500 digital camera.Herbarium: Mycotheca and Herbarium of Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vena pot 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Index Herbariorum acronym LJFRef.:(1) www.123pilze.de/DreamHC/Download/Quaternaria.htm (accessed Aug. 6. 2018)(2) Grove WB (1937) British stem- and leaf-fungi (Coelomycetes), Vol 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (cited in Ref.3.) www.researchgate.net/publication/225494860_The_first_repo... (accessed Aug. 6. 2018)(4) www.ascofrance.com/forum/54027/libertella-faginea-or-phom... (accessed Aug. 6. 2018) (5) N. Ogris (ed), Boletus informaticus, Slovenian Forestry Institute www.zdravgozd.si/bi_index.aspx (accessed Aug. 6. 2018)(6) www.forestresearch.gov.uk/research/climate-change-impacts... (accessed Aug. 6. 2018)(7) L. Lanier, Mycologie et pathologie forestieres, I y II. Edit. Masn (1978), p75., Cited in Ref.: 8. (8) www.mapama.gob.es/ministerio/pags/Biblioteca/Revistas/pdf... (accessed Aug. 6. 2018)