Chytriomyces is a complex genus in Chytridiales. The morphological concept of the genus expanded as new taxa were added, and studies of zoospore ultrastructure and molecular phylogenies have revealed the genus to be polyphyletic. One problematic taxon is C. spinosus Fay, a distinctive species characterized by whorls of spines on the zoosporangium and a large accumulation of vesicle material beneath the operculum. With light-, scanning-electron and transmission-electron microscopy, we examined a culture (WJD186) isolated from a muck sample collected from a temporary forest pond. We also analyzed the D1-D2 variable domains of the nuc 28S rDNA (28S) sequences to confirm the phylogenetic placement of the species relative to the type of Chytriomyces, C. hyalinus Karling. The morphology of culture WJD186 is consistent with features Fay described for C. spinosus, and the zoospore ultrastructure is consistent with the Group I-type zoospore characters of Chytriomycetaceae (Chytridiales). In our molecular phylogeny C. spinosus does not group with the type of Chytriomyces. Consequently, we erect a new genus in Chytriomycetaceae and present the new combination Fayochytriomyces spinosus.
Keywords: Chytridiomycota; cellulose; chytrid; sporangial ornamentation; taxonomy.
© 2015 by The Mycological Society of America.