Coprophilous ascomycetes with passive ascospore liberation from Brazil Author Melo, Roger Fagner Ribeiro Author Maia, Leonor Costa Author Miller, Andrew Nicholas text Phytotaxa 2017 2017-02-08 295 2 159 172 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.295.2.4 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.295.2.4 1179-3163 13688452 3. Leuconeurospora pulcherrima (G. Winter) Malloch & Cain, Can. J. Bot. 48(10): 1820 (1970) ( Plate 1 , Figs. 7–9) Ascomata non-ostiolate, scattered, immersed to superficial, globose, black at reflected light, dark red at transmitted light, 160–210 μm diam., glabrous. Peridium cephalothecoid, coriaceous, opaque, composed of large, polygonal plates consisting of flattened, angular ( textura angularis ), thick-walled, reddish-brown cells, 7.5–22.5 μm wide at the larger axis, separated by well-defined dehiscence lines. Asci 4-spored, globose to slightly clavate, 9–11.5 μm diam., evanescent. Ascospores 1-celled, mainly ellipsoid, but considerably variable in morphology, rhomboid to doliiform, ornamented by conspicuous, anastomosing ridges, forming an incomplete reticulum, hyaline, 6–10 × 3–5 μm, lacking germ pores. Material examined:— BRAZIL . Pernambuco , Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco ( UFRPE ), Recife, on goat dung, 04 Apr 2012 , R . F . R . Melo ( URM 86786!). Habitat: —Dung of dog, fox, hedgehog, rabbit, rat and squirrel. Distribution:— Europe ( Denmark , Greece ) and North America ( Canada ). This is the first record of this species in Brazil . Notes: — Leuconeurospora pulcherrima can be distinguished from other cleistothecial, hyaline-spored coprophilous fungi by the dark red ascomata with cephalothecoid wall and by the reticulated ornamentation pattern on the ascospores. Numerous obovoid to pyriform chlamydospores were observed in this material.