Abstract:

 A species of Gilbertella was isolated from dung of swine collected from  Hainan,

Kwangtung Province, and described as a new species (Gilbertella hainanensis sp. nov.).

     Morphologically, it differs from G. persicaria, the only other species of Gilbertella,

mainly in spore characters.  The spores of G. persicaria are oval  to  nearly spherical,

often pointed and bearing 3-6 appendages at each end; while those of the present species

are elongate-oval, reniform or oval, with ends obtuse, never pointed and bearing 6-12

appendages.  The appearances of the two species in culture are also different.  In colour

G. persicaria is grayish-brown and G. hainanensis is blackish-gray.

     When inoculated on peach fruit, G. hainanensis causes no rot, while all strains of G.

persicaria isolated from various kinds of substratum readily cause rotting  of the  entire

peach in 5-6 days.

     The culture of G. hainanensis at hand, being a minus strain, has been found to form

mature zygospores when grown together with the plus strain of G. persicaria.  The two

suspensors of the zygospore thus formed are heterogeneous either in shape or in dimen-

sion, one of the suspensors closely resembles those of G. persicaria, while the other is

quite different.

     Type culture of G. hainanensis is deposited in the Institute of Microbiology, Academia

Sinica, Peking, China.