Botryosphaeriaceae associated with Tectona grandis (teak) in Northern Thailand

Tectona grandis (teak) is one of the most important economic timbers worldwide. Limited studies exist on the potential pathogens of these trees. Fungi in the Botryosphaeriaceae are cosmopolitan opportunistic pathogens, endophytes and saprobes of numerous hosts. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic branch and stem sections, as well as leaves were collected from T. grandis in plantations and forests in four provinces of northern Thailand with the aim of identifying species of Botryosphaeriaceae associated with these trees. Morphology and multi-locus phylogenies (ITS, TEF1-α, β-tubulin) were used to identify the Botryosphaeriaceae species. Six species from four different genera were found on T. grandis in Northern Thailand. These included Dothiorella tectonae sp. nov., Lasiodiplodia brasiliense, L. pseudotheobromae, L. theobromae, Pseudofusicoccum adansoniae and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola. Dothiorella tectonae is introduced here as a novel species and compared with other species in the genus. Dothiorella tectonae, L. brasiliense, L. pseudotheobromae, L. theobromae, P. adansoniae and S. eucalypticola are first reports for T. grandis in Thailand. Variations in morphology between descriptions of previously described species and that obtained in this study are described to facilitate future identification of species.The Thailand Research Fund through the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program grant (No. Ph.D./0072/2553 in 4.S.M.F./53/A.2), Mae Fah Luang University grant for studying Dothideomycetes (No. 56101020032), the Tree Pathology Co-operative Programme (TPCP), Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxaam201

Ribosomal and Protein Gene Phylogeny Reveals Novel Saprobic Fungal Species FromJuglans regiaandUrtica dioica

During an ongoing investigation of Ascomycetes from plant substrates, three saprobic species were found from plant substrates. Two new species,Leptosphaeria regiaeandNeomicrosphaeropsis juglandiswere isolated from dead branches ofJuglans regiafrom Turkey. Another species is introduced herein asSubplenodomus urticaesp. nov within the family Leptosphaeriaceae found onUrtica dioicain Italy. Multigene phylogenies based on combined LSU, ITS, SSU, and beta-tubulin DNA sequence data generated from maximum likelihood and MrBayes analyses indicate thatLeptosphaeria regiaeis related toL. slovacicaand forms an independent lineage within the genusLeptosphaeria.Subplenodomus urticaeis basal toS. iridicolaand its establishment as a new species is strongly supported.Neomicrosphaeropsis juglandisforms a moderately supported lineage in betweenN. italicaandN. elaeagniin the Didymellaceae. Full morphological details are provided herein and phylogenetic relationships of the three new species are also discussed

Barriopsis tectonae sp nov a new species of Botryosphaeriaceae from Tectona grandis (teak) in Thailand

Tectona grandis (teak) is an increasingly important timber resource globally. It is native to Asia, including Thailand. In this paper a new species of Barriopsis, B. tectonae sp. nov., is described from a dead T. grandis branch collected in Thailand. Barriopsis tectonae can be differentiated from the two previously described species of Barriopsis; B. fusca and B. iraniana, by its ascospore and conidial dimensions. Phylogenetic evaluation of the ITS, TEF1-α and BT genomic regions provide further evidence that B. tectonae is a novel species.Thailand Research Found through the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program grant No. Ph.D./0072/2553 in 4.S.M.F./53/A.2.N, MFLU grant number 56101020032 and Forestry & Agricultural Biotechnology (FABI), University of Pretoria, South Africa.http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxahb201

Fungal diversity notes 929–1035: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungi

This article is the ninth in the series of Fungal Diversity Notes, where 107 taxa distributed in three phyla, nine classes, 31 orders and 57 families are described and illustrated. Taxa described in the present study include 12 new genera, 74 new species, three new combinations, two reference specimens, a re-circumscription of the epitype, and 15 records of sexualasexual morph connections, new hosts and new geographical distributions. Twelve new genera comprise Brunneofusispora, Brunneomurispora, Liua, Lonicericola, Neoeutypella, Paratrimmatostroma, Parazalerion, Proliferophorum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis, Septomelanconiella, Velebitea and Vicosamyces. Seventy-four new species are Agaricus memnonius, A. langensis, Aleurodiscus patagonicus, Amanita flavoalba, A. subtropicana, Amphisphaeria mangrovei, Baorangia major, Bartalinia kunmingensis, Brunneofusispora sinensis, Brunneomurispora lonicerae, Capronia camelliaeyunnanensis, Clavulina thindii, Coniochaeta simbalensis, Conlarium thailandense, Coprinus trigonosporus, Liua muriformis, Cyphellophora filicis, Cytospora ulmicola, Dacrymyces invisibilis, Dictyocheirospora metroxylonis, Distoseptispora thysanolaenae, Emericellopsis koreana, Galiicola baoshanensis, Hygrocybe lucida, Hypoxylon teeravasati, Hyweljonesia indica, Keissleriella caraganae, Lactarius olivaceopallidus, Lactifluus midnapurensis, Lembosia brigadeirensis, Leptosphaeria urticae, Lonicericola hyaloseptispora, Lophiotrema mucilaginosis, Marasmiellus bicoloripes, Marasmius indojasminodorus, Micropeltis phetchaburiensis, Mucor orantomantidis, Murilentithecium lonicerae, Neobambusicola brunnea, Neoeutypella baoshanensis, Neoroussoella heveae, Neosetophoma lonicerae, Ophiobolus malleolus, Parabambusicola thysanolaenae, Paratrimmatostroma kunmingensis, Parazalerion indica, Penicillium dokdoense, Peroneutypa mangrovei, Phaeosphaeria cycadis, Phanerochaete australosanguinea, Plectosphaerella kunmingensis, Plenodomus artemisiae, P. lijiangensis, Proliferophorum thailandicum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis kaveriana, Pseudohelicomyces menglunicus, Pseudoplagiostoma mangiferae, Robillarda mangiferae, Roussoella elaeicola, Russula choptae, R. uttarakhandia, Septomelanconiella thailandica, Spencermartinsia acericola, Sphaerellopsis isthmospora, Thozetella lithocarpi, Trechispora echinospora, Tremellochaete atlantica, Trichoderma koreanum, T. pinicola, T. rugulosum, Velebitea chrysotexta, Vicosamyces venturisporus, Wojnowiciella kunmingensis and Zopfiella indica. Three new combinations are Baorangia rufomaculata, Lanmaoa pallidorosea and Wojnowiciella rosicola. The reference specimens of Canalisporium kenyense and Tamsiniella labiosa are designated. The epitype of Sarcopeziza sicula is re-circumscribed based on cyto- and histochemical analyses. The sexual-asexual morph connection of Plenodomus sinensis is reported from ferns and Cirsium for the first time. In addition, the new host records and country records are Amanita altipes, A. melleialba, Amarenomyces dactylidis, Chaetosphaeria panamensis, Coniella vitis, Coprinopsis kubickae, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Leptobacillium leptobactrum var. calidus, Muyocopron lithocarpi, Neoroussoella solani, Periconia cortaderiae, Phragmocamarosporium hederae, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola

FungalTraits:A user-friendly traits database of fungi and fungus-like stramenopiles

The cryptic lifestyle of most fungi necessitates molecular identification of the guild in environmental studies. Over the past decades, rapid development and affordability of molecular tools have tremendously improved insights of the fungal diversity in all ecosystems and habitats. Yet, in spite of the progress of molecular methods, knowledge about functional properties of the fungal taxa is vague and interpretation of environmental studies in an ecologically meaningful manner remains challenging. In order to facilitate functional assignments and ecological interpretation of environmental studies we introduce a user friendly traits and character database FungalTraits operating at genus and species hypothesis levels. Combining the information from previous efforts such as FUNGuild and Fun(Fun) together with involvement of expert knowledge, we reannotated 10,210 and 151 fungal and Stramenopila genera, respectively. This resulted in a stand-alone spreadsheet dataset covering 17 lifestyle related traits of fungal and Stramenopila genera, designed for rapid functional assignments of environmental studies. In order to assign the trait states to fungal species hypotheses, the scientific community of experts manually categorised and assigned available trait information to 697,413 fungal ITS sequences. On the basis of those sequences we were able to summarise trait and host information into 92,623 fungal species hypotheses at 1% dissimilarity threshold

Botryosphaeriaceae associated with Tectona grandis (teak) in Northern Thailand

Tectona grandis (teak) is one of the most important economic timbers worldwide. Limited studies exist on the potential pathogens of these trees. Fungi in the Botryosphaeriaceae are cosmopolitan opportunistic pathogens, endophytes and saprobes of numerous hosts. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic branch and stem sections, as well as leaves were collected from T. grandis in plantations and forests in four provinces of northern Thailand with the aim of identifying species of Botryosphaeriaceae associated with these trees. Morphology and multi-locus phylogenies (ITS, TEF1-α, β-tubulin) were used to identify the Botryosphaeriaceae species. Six species from four different genera were found on T. grandis in Northern Thailand. These included Dothiorella tectonae sp. nov., Lasiodiplodia brasiliense, L. pseudotheobromae, L. theobromae, Pseudofusicoccum adansoniae and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola. Dothiorella tectonae is introduced here as a novel species and compared with other species in the genus. Dothiorella tectonae, L. brasiliense, L. pseudotheobromae, L. theobromae, P. adansoniae and S. eucalypticola are first reports for T. grandis in Thailand. Variations in morphology between descriptions of previously described species and that obtained in this study are described to facilitate future identification of species.The Thailand Research Fund through the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program grant (No. Ph.D./0072/2553 in 4.S.M.F./53/A.2), Mae Fah Luang University grant for studying Dothideomycetes (No. 56101020032), the Tree Pathology Co-operative Programme (TPCP), Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxaam201

Multigene phylogeny and taxonomy of Dendryphion hydei and Torula hydei spp. nov. from herbaceous litter in northern Thailand.

During our studies on asexual fungi colonizing herbaceous litter in northern Thailand, we discovered two new fungal species, viz. Dendryphion hydei and Torula hydei spp. nov. The latter are examined, and their morphological characters are described as well as their DNA sequences from ribosomal and protein coding genes are analysed to infer their phylogenetic relationships with extant fungi. Torula hydei is different from other similar Torula species in having tiny and catenate conidia. Dendryphion hydei can be distinguished from other similar Dendryphion species in having large conidiophores and subhyaline to pale olivaceous brown, 2-4(-5)-septate conidia. Multigene phylogenetic analyses of a combined LSU, SSU, TEF1-α, RPB2 and ITS DNA sequence dataset generated from maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses indicate that T. hydei forms a distinct lineage and basal to T. fici. Dendryphion hydei forms a distinct lineage and basal to D. europaeum, D. comosum, D. aquaticum and D. fluminicola within Torulaceae (Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes)

New Insights into Tetraplosphaeriaceae Based on Taxonomic Investigations of Bambusicolous Fungi and Freshwater Fungi

Species within Tetraplosphaeriaceae have been frequently documented in recent years with the extensive investigations of microfungi along a latitudinal gradient from north to south in the Asian/Australian region. Both bamboo substrates and freshwater habitats serve as extensive reservoirs, hosting a rich diversity of fungi that exhibit broad geographical distributions. The most common fungi in these two environments are generally distributed in distinct families. However, our statistics have revealed an intriguingly distinct preference of Tetraplosphaeriaceae species for inhabiting both bamboo substrates and freshwater habitats. The genera Pseudotetraploa (100%) and Triplosphaeria (100%) exhibit a strong preference, followed by Shrungabeeja (71%) and Quadricrura (67%). Our taxonomic and phylogenetic study of microfungi in southern China have identified four additional novel species, viz., Aquatisphaeria bambusae sp. nov., Pseudotetraploa phyllostachydis sp. nov., Pseudotetraploa yangjiangensis sp. nov., and Tetraploa submersa sp. nov. from bamboo substrates and freshwater habitats. In addition, Aquatisphaeria thailandica has previously been documented from freshwater habitats in Thailand; however, we have once again isolated this species from decaying bamboo substrates in Guangdong, China. The new findings substantiate our hypothesis that the preference of Tetraplosphaeriaceae species for colonizing bamboo substrates and freshwater habitats will be more evident through more extensive investigations conducted in such environments

Three New <i>Periconia</i> Species Isolated from <i>Wurfbainia villosa</i> in Guangdong, China: A Discussion on the Doubtful Taxa Clustering in this Genus

During a survey of fungi on Wurfbainia villosa in Guangdong Province, China, three novel species, Periconia endophytica, P. yangjiangensis, and P. wurfbainiae, belonging to Periconiaceae in Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes are proposed based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence. Periconia endophytica was isolated from the healthy leaves of W. villosa, while P. yangjiangensis and P. wurfbainiae were obtained from the dead stems of the same host. Notably, holomorphs were observed in P. wurfbainiae. The morphological characteristics of the novel taxa are compared with closely related species within Periconia. Illustrations, morphological descriptions, and phylogenetic analyses are provided for the novel taxa. Multilocus phylogeny of the combined internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit nuclear rDNA (LSU), small subunit nuclear ribosomal rDNA (SSU), and partial translation elongation factor 1–α (tef1-α) regions supported the establishment of three new species. Furthermore, the taxa clustering in Periconia, Flavomyces fulophazii, and Sporidesmium tengii, are discussed for further investigation of their taxonomic placements