Several Seiridium species (Sporocadaceae: Xylariales) cause cypress canker in South Africa.

Cypress canker is an important fungal disease caused by at least seven different Seiridium species. The disease has been known on Cupressaceae trees in South Africa since the 1980's, but its relevance was recently accentuated with an outbreak on native Widdringtonia nodiflora trees in the Western Cape. The causal agent, S.

Four new Geosmithia species from bark beetles infesting indigenous South African trees.

Over the past two decades, numerous Geosmithia fungi have been isolated from the bodies and galleries of wood-boring beetles. However, this genus of asexual Sordariomycetes remains taxonomically and ecologically understudied, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. In South Africa, two prior surveys reported Geosmithia species from bark beetles, but neither thoroughly investigated species identities.

Monitoring urban biological invasions using citizen science: the polyphagous shot hole borer ().

Unlabelled: Benefits provided by urban trees are increasingly threatened by non-native pests and pathogens. Monitoring of these invasions is critical for the effective management and conservation of urban tree populations. However, a shortage of professionally collected species occurrence data is a major impediment to assessments of biological invasions in urban areas.

Microfungi associated with dying in South Africa and their relative pathogenicity.

is a succulent shrub that is indigenous to South Africa and widely distributed throughout the country. Dying plants have been observed in their natural habitat in the Northern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa in recent years. Stems displaying lesions were collected and the emerging cultures were identified based on ITS, LSU, , , and/or sequence data.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 1383-1435.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: , , and on soil, from stem cankers of , from stem of , and from leaves of , as endophyte from roots of , from stem of , from leaves of × and from roots of , from intertidal wood and (incl. gen. nov.

Predicting interactions of the frass-associated yeast Hyphopichia heimii with Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata and twig-boring bark beetles.

Bark beetles are destructive insect pests known to form symbioses with different fungal taxa, including yeasts. The aim of this study was to (1) determine the prevalence of the rare yeast Hyphopichia heimii in bark beetle frass from wild olive trees in South Africa and to (2) predict the potential interaction of this yeast with trees and bark beetles. Twenty-eight culturable yeast species were isolated from frass in 35 bark beetle galleries, including representatives of H.

An Assessment of the Potential Economic Impacts of the Invasive Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in South Africa.

Studies addressing the economic impacts of invasive alien species are biased towards ex-post assessments of the costs and benefits of control options, but ex-ante assessments are also required to deal with potentially damaging invaders. The polyphagous shot hole borer Euwallacea fornicatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a recent and potentially damaging introduction to South Africa. We assessed the potential impact of this beetle by working across economic and biological disciplines and developing a simulation model that included dynamic mutualistic relations between the beetle and its symbiotic fungus.

Persistence of ecologically similar fungi in a restricted floral niche.

Fungi in the genera Knoxdaviesia and Sporothrix dominate fungal communities within Protea flowerheads and seed cones (infructescences). Despite apparently similar ecologies, they show strong host recurrence and often occupy the same individual infructescence. Differences in host chemistry explain their host consistency, but the factors that allow co-occupancy of multiple species within individual infructescences are unknown.

Novel mating-type-associated genes and gene fragments in the genomes of Mycosphaerellaceae and Teratosphaeriaceae fungi.

The mating-type (MAT1) locus encodes transcription factors essential for the onset of the sexual cycle in ascomycete fungi. This locus has been characterised in only a few heterothallic, plant pathogenic Mycosphaerellaceae and Teratosphaeriaceae. We used available genome sequences for Mycosphaerellales species to investigate the presence of two unique mating-type-associated features.

Early colonization of Protea flowers enable dominance of competitively weak saprobic fungi in seed cones, benefitting their hosts.

Sporothrix and Knoxdaviesia fungi use pollinators to colonize Protea flowers at anthesis. These saprobes remain dominant in the nutrient-rich, fire-retardant Protea seed-cones (infructescences) for at least a year after flowering. We tested the hypothesis that they competitively exclude potentially detrimental fungi from infructescences during this time.

A high-quality fungal genome assembly resolved from a sample accidentally contaminated by multiple taxa.

Contamination in sequenced genomes is a relatively common problem and several methods to remove non-target sequences have been devised. Typically, the target and contaminating organisms reside in different kingdoms, simplifying their separation. The authors present the case of a genome for the ascomycete fungus , contaminated by another ascomycete fungus and a bacterium.

Fire impacts bacterial composition in Protea repens (Proteaceae) infructescences.

The diverse bacterial communities in and around plants provide important benefits, such as protection against pathogens and cycling of essential minerals through decomposition of moribund plant biomass. Biodiverse fynbos landscapes generally have limited deadwood habitats due to the absence of large trees and frequent fire. In this study, we determined the effect of a fire disturbance on the bacterial communities in a fynbos landscape dominated by the shrub Protea repens using 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing.

Genetic response to nitrogen starvation in the aggressive Eucalyptus foliar pathogen Teratosphaeria destructans.

Teratosphaeria destructans is one of the most aggressive foliar pathogens of Eucalyptus. The biological factors underpinning T. destructans infections, which include shoot and leaf blight on young trees, have never been interrogated.

New and Interesting Fungi. 4.

An order, family and genus are validated, seven new genera, 35 new species, two new combinations, two epitypes, two lectotypes, and 17 interesting new host and / or geographical records are introduced in this study. Validated order, family and genus: and (based on . New genera: (based on ); (based on ); (based on ); (based on ); (based on ); (based on ); (based on ).

Interplay between differential competition and actions of spore-vectors explain host exclusivity of saprobic fungi in Protea flowers.

Protea flowers host saprobic Knoxdaviesia and Sporothrix fungi that are dispersed by pollinating insects and birds. Different Protea species contain sympatric populations of different fungal species. For example, P.

Tree canopy arthropods have idiosyncratic responses to plant ecophysiological traits in a warm temperate forest complex.

Biodiversity studies on forest canopies often have narrow arthropod taxonomic focus, or refer to a single species of tree. In response, and to better understand the wide range of drivers of arthropod diversity in tree canopies, we conducted a large-scale, multi-taxon study which (a) included effect of immediate surroundings of an individual tree on plant physiological features, and (b), how these features affect compositional and functional arthropod diversity, in a warm, southern Afro-temperate forest. We found that tree species differed significantly in plant physiological features and arthropod diversity patterns.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 1042-1111.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: , from marine sediment sand. , (incl. gen.

Patterns of coevolution between ambrosia beetle mycangia and the , with five new fungal genera and seven new species.

Ambrosia beetles farm specialised fungi in sapwood tunnels and use pocket-like organs called mycangia to carry propagules of the fungal cultivars. Ambrosia fungi selectively grow in mycangia, which is central to the symbiosis, but the history of coevolution between fungal cultivars and mycangia is poorly understood. The fungal family previously included three ambrosial genera (, , and ), each farmed by one of three distantly related tribes of ambrosia beetles with unique and relatively large mycangium types.

IMA Genome-F 11: Draft genome sequences of and and genome annotation for .

Draft genomes of the fungal species and are presented. In addition an annotation of the genome of is presented. Overall these genomes provide a valuable resource for understanding the molecular processes underlying pathogenicity and potential management strategies of these economically important fungi.

Symbiotic yeasts from the mycangium, larval gut and woody substrate of an African stag beetle Xiphodontus antilope (Coleoptera: Lucanidae).

Female stag beetles (Lucanidae) possess internal mycangia to maintain microbial cultures. Yeasts from these mycangia may help with larval nutrition in nutrient poor woody substrates, but only a few Lucanidae taxa have been studied and all reports originate from Europe and Asia. We identify the first mycangial yeasts of a South African endemic Lucanidae beetle, Xiphodontus antilope, using nuclear ribosomal RNA and ITS DNA sequence data.

Mating strategy and mating type distribution in six global populations of the Eucalyptus foliar pathogen Teratosphaeria destructans.

Teratosphaeria destructans is an aggressive fungal pathogen causing leaf and shoot blight on young Eucalyptus trees in plantations. The disease occurs across tropical and subtropical regions of South East Asia and has recently been found in South Africa. Asexual structures of the pathogen are produced on infected tissues, but sexual structures have never been observed.

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria and Oxalis - evidence for a vertically inherited bacterial symbiosis.

Background: Plant-endophyte symbioses often revolve around nitrogen metabolism, and involve varying degrees of intimacy. Although evidence for vertical inheritance of nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria is increasing, it is confined mostly to crop plants, and to date no such system has been reported for geophytes.

Methods: Bacterial endophytes associated with Oxalis, the most species-rich geophytic genus form the Cape Flora in southern Africa was studied.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 951-1041.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: , from permafrost, from an unidentified marine sponge. , on humus in mixed forest. , Golovinomyces glandulariae on on leaves of on leaves of on leaves of , on soil, on rotten stalks of on leaf litter covered soil, (incl.