Occurrence of Phoma Sacc. in the phyllosphere of Neogene Siwalik forest of Arunachal sub-Himalaya and its palaeoecological implications

Vishnu (nee Mandal), Arkamitra and Khan, Mahasin Ali and Bera, Meghma and Acharya, Krishnendu and Dilcher, David L and Bera, Subir (2019) Occurrence of Phoma Sacc. in the phyllosphere of Neogene Siwalik forest of Arunachal sub-Himalaya and its palaeoecological implications. In: FUNGAL BIOLOGY, 123 (1). pp. 18-28.

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Abstract

The present study reports in situ occurrence of two new epiphyllous fungal species of Phomites (comparable to modern genus Phoma Sacc.) on angiospermic leaf remains recovered from the Siwalik sediments (middle Miocene to early Pleistocene) of Arunachal Pradesh, eastern Himalaya. We describe two new species i.e. Phomites siwalicus Vishnu, Khan et Bera S, sp. nov. and Phomites neogenicus Vishnu, Khan et Bera S, sp. nov. on the basis of structural details of pycnidia. The pycnidium is a globose or slightly lens shaped, ostiolate with a collar layer consisting of thick walled cells, sunken in leaf cuticle, with one-celled conidiospores and short-ampulliform conidiogenous cells. Host leaves resemble to those of extant Dipterocarpus C. F. Gaertn., Shorea Roxb. ex C. F. Gaertn. (Dipterocarpaceae), Dysoxylum Blume (Meliaceae), and Poaceae Barnhart. In situ occurrence of two Phomites morphotypes on the said leaf remains suggests a possible host-parasite interaction in the moist evergreen forest of Arunachal sub-Himalaya during Mio-Pleistocene period. The occurrence of Phomites in appreciable numbers indicates a humid climate favored by high rate of precipitation during Siwalik sedimentation, which is also consistent with our previously published climatic data obtained from the study of the macroscopic plant remains. (C) 2018 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	FUNGAL BIOLOGY
Publisher:	ELSEVIER SCI LTD
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to ELSEVIER SCI LTD
Keywords:	Eastern Himalaya; Host parasite interaction; Leaf compressions; Mio-pleistocene; Palaeoecology; Phomites
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	17 May 2019 12:21
Last Modified:	17 May 2019 12:21
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/62383

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