A new occurrence of Mucor nidicola (Madden, Stchigel, Guarro, Sutton et Starks) (Mucorales, Mucoromycota) in the Upland Rainforest of the Brazilian Northeast and first report as a saprobe in soil

Abstract

Mucor nidicola, a mucoralean fungus, was isolated for the first time from a wasp nest in Massachusetts, USA, and then reported in the state of Paraná, Brazil, as an entomopathogenic fungus collected from insects in strawberry crops. This work reports the first occurrence of M. nidicola from soil in the Brazilian Northeast. This species is distinguished from other species by producing erect, unbranched, and once-branched sporangiophores, globose to subglobose columellae, and mostly ellipsoidal sporangiospores, but with some irregular and varying in size and shape.