Novel species of Huntiella from naturally-occurring forest trees in Greece and South Africa

By

Liu, FeiFei
Marincowitz, Seonju
Chen, ShuaiFei
Mbenoun, Michael
Tsopelas, Panaghiotis
Soulioti, Nikoleta
Wingfield, Michael J.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020

Original Publication

MycoKeys

Volume

69

Pages

33--52

Subjects

Ceratocystidaceae , Ceratocystis moniliformis Complex , Colophospermum mopane , Huntiella , Platanus orientalis , saprobes , Senegalia nigrescens

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2011-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.69.53205

 

Abstract

Huntiella species are wood-infecting, filamentous ascomycetes that occur in fresh wounds on a wide variety of tree species. These fungi are mainly known as saprobes although some have been associated with disease symptoms. Six fungal isolates with typical culture characteristics of Huntiella spp. were collected from wounds on native forest trees in Greece and South Africa. The aim of this study was to identify these isolates, using morphological characters and multigene phylogenies of the rRNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, portions of the β-tubulin (BT1) and translation elongation factor 1α (TEF-1α) genes. The mating strategies of these fungi were also determined through PCR amplification of mating type genes. The study revealed two new species; one from Platanus orientalis in Greece and one from Colophospermum mopane and Senegalia nigrescens in South Africa. These novel taxa have been provided with the names, H. hellenicasp. nov. and H. krugerisp. nov., respectively. The former species was found to have a homothallic and the latter a heterothallic mating system.