Hi Marja,

I think this should be a species of the genus Epibryon. On Sphagnum there's e.g. Epibryon turfosorum with similar, albeit smaller ascospores apparently (see http://www.bbgev.de/berichte/055_1984/bryophile_ascomyceten.pdf). I don't know which similar species on Sphagnum there are though. I recommend having a look in Döbbeler, P. 1978. Moosbewohnende Ascomyceten I. Die pyrenocarpen, den Gametophyten besiedelnden Arten. Mitteilungen aus der Botanischen Staatssammlung München. 14:1-360. This book is available online if I remember correctly but I can't find the link right now so maybe someone can help with that one.

Best wishes,
Gernot

Hi Gernot,

thank you very much!

This certainly looks similar to Epibryon turfosorum.
The scale for microscophy is 15, so this may even be that.
There were developing spores, that were smaller and I mesured only few, because there was not much to measure ;)

Marja

Hello, Marja, Gernot.

I had collected one specimen with close shape of perithecia:

http://www.ascofrance.com/search_forum/22420

but i think spores are different, right? It was positioned in Venturiaceae, but i have not found it since then and have not identified it eventually.

Nina.

Hello Nina,

Seems, that we find similar species from wet places.

I wonder, weather my collection is mature.. Maybe the spores turn brown given some time.
My collection is scanty and was found from the border of living and dead part of Sphaghnum.

Marja

the spores are germinating so must be mature :-)

Dear Thomas,

you are right. I forgot.

I studied another abd found out, that there is lot of empty space in an ascus.
It just collapses pretty fast in water.

So Epibryon, but without written description can't be sure of E. turfosorum.

Marja

Very late but I think E. turfosorum is probably correct. See a rough translation of Döbbeler, 1978 below. The pale colour of the ascomata and the blackish neck subtending the ostiole are good. The spore sizes you report are different to those below, but re-measurements could make it more certain. Peter also measured many species in lactophenol cotton blue, so perhaps the dimensions are smaller than water-mounted material.


20. Epibryon turfosorum (MOUT. ) DÖBB. comb. nov. ( Döbbeler 61. f. 3)
Basionym: Venturia turfosorum MOUTON, Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 25: 149 (1886). BARR, Canad. J. Bot. 46: 817-33 (1968). HANSFORD, Mycol. Pap. 15: 45 (1946). SACCARDO, SyU. Fung. , Add. 1 - 4: 410 (1886); SyU. Fung. 9: 694 (1891),
= Coleroa turfosorum (MOUT.) BUBAK, Hedwigia 57: 3 (1915). RACOVITZA, champ. bryoph. 41 (1959).
Fruiting body 68 - 102 x 55 - 80 (- 90) ; um, spherical with attached black papilla, the rest of the fruiting body almost colorless to light brownish, bristly, single, superficial, spores translucent. - papilla about 16 - 32 x 18 - 27; am, knopffo?rmig, of 5 -9x1, 5-2 u m large, unseptierten, non-branched, in Fruchtko?rperla?ngsrich- elongated cells tung formed. The papilla can sometimes only be seen under microscopic magnification. - Ostiolum 8 - 12 ^ m in size, round, sometimes visible as a bright spot with a magnifying glass. - Bristles (30 -) 50 - 75 X 3 - 4yum, straight to seldom slightly curved, mainly arising in the upper third of the fruiting body, dark brown, single or with one or 2 thin transverse walls. - Housing in plan view in the middle and lower part with 5 - 10 ^ m large, isodiametric, thin-walled cells, surface creepy. The cells become smaller and indistinct at the apex. - Wall 8 - 11 ^ m thick in section, made up of a few layers of rectangular elongated cells. - Paraphysoids absent. - Asci 35 - 45 x (12 -) 14 - 18 (- 20) ^ m, bitunicate , ellipsoidal, very delicate-walled, 8 -spore. Iodine colors the hymenial jelly reddish. - Spores (11 -) 12 - 14 (- 15) x (5 -) 5, 5 - 6, 5 (- 7) ; im, broadly ellipsoidal to ovate, 2 -celled, almost colorless, halves symmetrical or slightly uneven, not drawn in at the septum, contents usually homogeneous, epispora smooth, irregularly arranged in the ascus. - Hyphae 1 - 2, 5 {- 4) ^ m thick, light brownish, running within the green and water cells of the host.
Hosts: Sphagnum sp. div.
The ascocarpies sit randomly on the leaves of dying or dead plants. Lasiosphaeria sp. encountered.
Distribution: Belgium, Austria
Epibryon turfosorum is characterized by light-colored ascocarpies, which are provided with a button-shaped, black papilla and long, rigid and straight bristles. The spurs have the smallest length-width ratio within the genus.
The species is bound to sphagnum, but is not very common.
BARR (1968: 817) describes Venturia turfosorum using a collection of dead Sphagnum fuscum from North America (New York, NY, NYS). This evidence requires follow-up examination, since it is evidently another member of the genus Epibryon, which occurs in several species on Sphagnum. According to BARR, short, septate, brown conidia carriers grow out of the housing wall and form unicellular, brown conidia apically measuring 10 x 4 ^ m.

Locations:
Belgium: Tilff (holotype; non vidi; after MOUTON 1886: 149).
Austria, Styria: Seckauer Tauern, forest south above Hotel Blematl, west of Hohentauern, around 1300 m, August 19, 1973 J. POELT (Po). Channel to the south above the Hochreichart hut, to the west of Mau- sen, around 1500 m, 4. IX. 1975 PD (Dö 2056 in M); with the same arrival gave, but: m 1550, J. Poelt (DO 2057 in GZU). Graz mountain , country, Durr gap between Wenisbuch and Graz-Andritz, 450 - m 500, 1972 9 VII J. & Poelt PD (DO 347).. Wundschuh pond in the Kaiserwald near Wundschuh, south of Graz, around 320 m, 17. VI. 1972 PD (Dö
301 in GZU).

Hope this helps,
George