Orbilia querci sp. nov. and its knob-forming nematophagous anamorph

Orbilia querci, a new nematode-trapping fungus, was found on rotten wood of Quercus sp. in Huai-rou County, Beijing, China. It is characterized by having a tear-shaped spore body in the cylindrical ascospore. Pure culture was obtained from the ascospores. Conidiophores were simple or occasionally branched, bearing a single conidium on the tip. Conidia were spindle-shaped, mostly with 3-septa. Nematodes were captured by means of adhesive stalked knobs. The adhesive knobs were produced frequently on nutritional agar plates even in the absence of challenging nematodes. Its anamorph is placed in Dactylellina and named as D. querci. The sequence divergence of the ITS1 region between the fungus and the other knob-forming species tested was 23.8-33.4%, supporting O. querci as a distinct species. This is the first report of the connection between a knob-forming nematophagous hyphomycete and an Orbilia teleomorph.