Publications

Full Citation:

Gómez-Zapata P.A., D. Haelewaters, L. Quijada, D.H. Pfister and M.C. Aime. 2021. Notes on Trochila (Ascomycota, Leotiomycetes), with new species and combinations. MycoKeys 78: 21-47.

Studies of Trochila (Leotiomycetes, Helotiales, Cenangiaceae) are scarce. Here, we describe two new species based on molecular phylogenetic data and morphology. Trochila bostonensis was collected at the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Massachusetts. It was found on the stem of Asclepias syriaca, representing the first report of any Trochila species from a plant host in the family Apocynaceae. Trochila urediniophila is associated with the uredinia of the rust fungus Cerotelium fici. It was discovered during a survey for rust hyperparasites conducted at the Arthur Fungarium, in a single sample from 1912 collected in Trinidad. Macro- and micromorphological descriptions, illustrations, and molecular phylogenetic analyses are presented. The two new species are placed in Trochila with high support in both our six-locus (SSU, ITS, LSU, rpb1, rpb2, tef1) and two-locus (ITS, LSU) phylogenetic reconstructions. In addition, two species are combined in Trochila: Trochila colensoi (formerly placed in Pseudopeziza) and T. xishuangbanna (originally described as the only species in Calycellinopsis). This study reveals new host plant families, a new ecological strategy, and a new country record for the genus Trochila. Finally, our work emphasizes the importance of specimens deposited in biological collections such as fungaria.

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 FunFun 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.

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Presented at the Mycological Society of America's "MSA 2020: Mycology from the Cloud" virtual conference.

Full citation: Beimforde, C., Schmidt, A.R., Rikkinen, J. and J.K. Mitchell. 2020. Sareomycetes cl. nov.: A new proposal for placement of the resinicolous genus Sarea (Ascomycota, Pezizomycotina). Fungal Systematics and Evolution.

Resinicolous fungi constitute a heterogeneous assemblage of fungi that live on fresh and solidified plant resins. The genus Sarea includes, according to current knowledge, two species, S. resinae and S. difformis. In contrast to other resinicolous discomycetes, which are placed in genera also including non-resinicolous species, Sarea species only ever fruit on resin. The taxonomic classification of Sarea has proven to be difficult and currently the genus, provisionally and based only on morphological features, has been assigned to the Trapeliales (Lecanoromycetes). In contrast, molecular studies have noted a possible affinity to the Leotiomycetes. Here we review the taxonomic placement of Sarea using sequence data from seven phylogenetically informative DNA regions including ribosomal (ITS, nucSSU, mtSSU, nucLSU) and protein-coding (rpb1, rpb2, mcm7) regions.

We combined available and new sequence data with sequences from major Pezizomycotina classes, especially Lecanoromycetes and Leotiomycetes, and assembled three different taxon samplings in order to place the genus Sarea within the Pezizomycotina. Based on our data, none of the applied phylogenetic approaches (Bayesian Inference, Maximum Likelihood and Maximum Parsimony) supported the placement of Sarea in the Trapeliales or any other order in the Lecanoromycetes. A placement of Sarea within the Leotiomycetes is similarly unsupported. Based on our data, Sarea forms an isolated and highly supported phylogenetic lineage within the "Leotiomyceta". From the results of our multilocus phylogenetic analyses we propose here a new class, order, and family, Sareomycetes, Sareales and Sareaceae in the Ascomycota to accommodate the genus Sarea. The genetic variability within the newly proposed class suggests that it is a larger group that requires further infrageneric classification.

Geodina salmonicolor is shown to be a synonym of G. guanacastensis, the type and only species of the genus. Comparisons of ITS rDNA sequences of a paratype and two recent collections of G. guanacastensis with published ITS sequences of G. salmonicolor, from the Dominican Republic, show that these are nearly identical. When G. salmonicolor was erected no sequences of the type species were available. Morphological comparisons supports the conspecificity. Details regarding the description of G. salmonicolor are pointed out. A four-gene phylogeny places Geodina and Wynnea as a supported sister group to the rest of the Sarcoscyphaceae. Species in these genera share morphological traits of cyanophobic spore markings, dark angular outer excipular cells that give rise to hairs and the origin of several apothecia from a common basal stalk. Their occurrence on soil rather than on wood or plant material distinguish them from other Sarcoscyphaceae. Based on morphology, phylogenic relationships and trophic interactions we erect a new family, Wynneaceae, for Geodina and Wynnea.

Little is known about the diversity of Orbiliomycetes from Puerto Rico. Cantrell & Lodge (2008) compiled a list of the fungi from Puerto Rico, and only mentioned four species of Orbilia: O. andina, O. chysocoma, O. delicata and O. cf. gaillardii. During IMC11 in Puerto Rico, 2018, several collections of Orbiliomycetes were found in Juan Enrique Monagas Park during the Ascomycete workshop field trip. Some of these were sent to the Cornell and Farlow Herbaria. One collection caught the attention of Luis Quijada due to its interesting morphological features. This species is not related to any of the species reported by Cantrell & Lodge (2008). The morphology of the asci and ascospores of the sexual morph clearly indicates a relationship with Orbilia auricolor and related species (section Arthrobotrys). The morphology of the strongly mammiform paraphyses and the excipulum with large cortical cells with knob-like glassy caps had never before seen in this section. Our cultures produced an Arthrobotrys-like anamorph most similar to the anamorph of O. blumenaviensis (= A. vermicola), but the conidia are distinctly smaller and never more than 1-septate. Molecular data supports the placement of this Orbilia in series Arthrobotrys. Species in this series produce adhesive networks as trapping organs in the presence of nematodes, and this behavior was confirmed in cultures of this Orbilia. Our phylogenetic analysis shows this species as very distinct from O. blumenaviensis and supports it being new to science.

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The harvesting of morels is a vital economic activity for local communities in Chile because they are a significant commercial export for the country. Although many species of morels produce ascomata in the absence of fire, abundant ascomata production occurs among some Morchella species when triggered by fire. The intentional burning of Nothofagus forests in Southern Chile, as a means to increase morel production, has become a problem and has negatively impacted ecosystems. Information on the distribution of morels in South America is limited. Spegazzini (1909) described M. patagonica from Argentina and Gamundi et al. (2004) listed five Morchella species from Patagonia and surrounding areas including Spegazzini’s species. Recently Pildain et al. (2014) and Baroni et al. (2018) have examined diversity of Morchella species in South America and the Caribbean using molecular methods. To better understand which Morchella species are being commercially harvested in Southern Chile, molecular markers were used to identify collections of morels being harvested and/or sold commercially and determine their phylogenetic relationships. Morels were sampled from collections in the Fungarium of the Fundación Fungi, Chile (FFCL) and batches purchased from commercial harvesters and bulk gatherers in 2015 and 2016. DNA sequence from the EF1a, RPB1, ITS and RPB2 were obtained and used for phylogenetic analyses. This study will contribute to the knowledge of morels in South America and help to understand their phylogenetic relationships with other Morchella species found worldwide.