Haelewaters, D., et al., 2020.
Mortality of native and invasive ladybirds co-infected by ectoparasitic and entomopathogenic fungi. PeerJ , 8 (e10110).
Publisher's VersionAbstractHarmonia axyridis is an invasive alien ladybird in North America and Europe. Studies show that multiple natural enemies are using Ha. axyridis as a new host. However, thus far, no research has been undertaken to study the effects of simultaneous infection by multiple natural enemies on Ha. axyridis. We hypothesized that high thallus densities of the ectoparasitic fungus Hesperomyces virescens on a ladybird weaken the host’s defenses, thereby making it more susceptible to infection by other natural enemies. We examined mortality of the North American-native Olla v-nigrum and Ha. axyridis co-infected with He. virescens and an entomopathogenic fungus—either Beauveria bassiana or Metarhizium brunneum. Laboratory assays revealed that He. virescens-infected O. v-nigrum individuals are more susceptible to entomopathogenic fungi, but Ha. axyridis does not suffer the same effects. This is in line with the enemy release hypothesis, which predicts that invasive alien species in new geographic areas experience reduced regulatory effects from natural enemies compared to native species. Considering our results, we can ask how He. virescens affects survival when confronted by other pathogens that previously had little impact on Ha. axyridis.
Baral, H.O., et al., 2020.
Cryptic speciation in Orbilia xanthostigma and O. leucostigma (Orbiliomycetes): an aggregate with worldwide distribution.
Mycological Progress , 20 , pp. 1503–1537.
Publisher's VersionAbstractOrbilia xanthostigma, with golden yellow to yellow-orange apothecia and O. leucostigma, with white to very pale rose-lilaceous apothecia, were described by E.M. Fries over 200 years ago. Each of the two taxa, which are not easy to interpret because type material is lacking, was proposed in the past as lectotype of the genus Orbilia. In the here presented circumscription, which follows the current usage, O. xanthostigma is among the most frequently recorded species of the genus, whereas O. leucostigma appears to be much less common. Both grow gregariously on decorticated hygric gymno- and angiosperm wood or rarely bark and show a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by minute, strongly curved, warted ascospores and a dicranidion-like anamorph. Except for apothecial colour, there are no other notable morphological differences between them, either in the teleomorph (asci, ascospores, paraphyses) or anamorph (conidiophores, conidia). Because of their strong similarities, the two taxa have often been treated as infraspecific variants (subspecies, varieties) of a single species or even as synonyms. In order to overcome the ambiguities associated with the two names, O. delicatula, a name proposed by P.A. Karsten for a collection with golden yellow apothecia, was suggested by B. Spooner as a replacement name for them. The present study reveals unexpectedly high ITS and LSU variation within a morphologically extremely homogeneous group, representing over 16 more or less invariable genotypes whenever more than one sample with a sequence was available. ITS and LSU rDNA data from European (Luxembourg, Germany, Ukraine) and Macaronesian (Tenerife) collections suggest that the two colour variants represent two distinct species with a 16.5% ITS and 3.5% LSU D1–D2 distance, but very low infraspecific variation (0.2% ITS, 0% LSU). A sample with scattered yellow apothecia from Luxembourg on a xeric branch deviates from typical European-Macaronesian O. xanthostigma by 4% (ITS) and 0.7% (LSU). Further available sequences from samples from Asia, New Zealand and North America with mainly yellow apothecia clustered in various other clades that represent further distinct genotypes. In the absence of morphological characteristics, none of these genotypes are given names pending further investigation. Only two of these genotypes are sufficiently distinct to be recognised morphologically: O. aureocrenulata from tropical, Middle and South America, with golden yellow apothecia with a crenulate margin and prominent stipe, and O. xanthoflexa from temperate, northeastern North America with yellow sessile apothecia with a smooth margin and larger, less curved, smooth-walled ascospores.
Mitchell, J.K. & L., Q., 2020.
Proposal to conserve the name Cytospora resinae (Zythia resinae) with a conserved type (Ascomycota).
Taxon: The Journal of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy , 69 (5) , pp. 1102-1103.
Publisher's Version Pfister, D.H. & Brown, J., 2020.
Inspired by Plants: The Glass Flowers as a Window into Botanical Education.
Journal of Antiques & Collectibles .
AbstractThe Glass Flowers exhibit is one of the major attractions at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. This remarkable collection is the product of the father and son artists-naturalists, Leopold (1822-1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857-1939). These renowned artists and glassworkers created life-like models that allow museum visitors to experience both the familiar and the exotic. Their masterful work, informed by detailed studies of each plant from nature, employed inventive methods to shape and color glass; they developed methods to mimic the surface textures and colors of leaves, branches, and flowers. Why did the Blaschkas produce this collection and who inspired them in this endeavor? To answer this question, we look deeply into the initiation of the project and the era in which the models were made.
Haelewaters, D., et al., 2020.
Mortality of native and invasive ladybirds co-infected by ectoparasitic and entomopathogenic fungi. Zoological Science.
Publisher's VersionAbstractHarmonia axyridis is an invasive alien ladybird in North America and Europe. Studies show that multiple natural enemies are using
Ha. axyridis as a new host. However, thus far, no research has been undertaken to study the effects of simultaneous infection by multiple natural enemies on
Ha. axyridis. We hypothesized that high thallus densities of the ectoparasitic fungus
Hesperomyces virescens on a ladybird weaken the host’s defenses, thereby making it more susceptible to infection by other natural enemies. We examined mortality of the North American-native
Olla v-nigrum and
Ha. axyridis co-infected with
He. virescens and an entomopathogenic fungus—either
Beauveria bassiana or
Metarhizium brunneum. Laboratory assays revealed that
He. virescens-infected
O. v-nigrum individuals are more susceptible to entomopathogenic fungi, but
Ha. axyridis does not suffer the same effects. This is in line with the enemy release hypothesis, which predicts that invasive alien species in new geographic areas experience reduced regulatory effects from natural enemies compared to native species. Considering our results, we can ask how
He. virescens affects survival when confronted by other pathogens that previously had little impact on
Ha. axyridis.
View Infographic here Saba, M., et al., 2020.
New species of Pseudosperma (Agaricales, Inocybaceae) from Pakistan revealed by morphology and multi-locus phylogenetic reconstruction.
MycoKeys , (69) , pp. 1-31.
Publisher's VersionAbstractDuring fungal surveys between 2012 and 2014 in pine-dominated forests of the western Himalayas in Pakistan, several collections of
Pseudosperma (Agaricales, Inocybaceae) were made. These were documented, based on morphological and molecular data. During this work, three new species came to light, which are here formally described as
Pseudosperma brunneoumbonatum,
P. pinophilum and
P. triacicularis. These species belong in the genus
Pseudosperma fide Matheny et al (2019) = Pseudosperma clade
fide Matheny (2005) =
Inocybe sect. Rimosae s.s. fide Larsson et al. (2009). Macro- and micro-morphological descriptions, illustrations and molecular phylogenetic reconstructions of the studied taxa are provided. The new species are differentiated from their close relatives by basidiospore size and colouration of basidiomata. Molecular phylogenetic relationships are inferred using
ITS (ITS1–5.8S–ITS2),
nrLSU and
mtSSU sequence data. All three newly-described taxa likely share an ectomycorrhizal association with trees in the genus
Pinus. In addition, five names are recombined in
Inosperma,
Mallocybe and
Pseudosperma. These are
Inosperma vinaceobrunneum,
Mallocybe erratum,
Pseudosperma alboflavellum,
Pseudosperma friabile and
Pseudosperma neglectum.
Quijada, L., et al., 2020.
Orbilia jesu-laurae (Ascomycota, Orbiliomycetes), a new species of neotropical nematode-trapping fungus from Puerto Rico, supported by morphology and molecular phylogenetics.
Willdenowia: Annals of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , 50 (2) , pp. 241-251.
Publisher's VersionAbstractOrbilia jesu-laurae is a new species of nematode-trapping fungus found on decorticated angiosperm wood in a tropical rainforest in Puerto Rico. The single specimen was studied from fresh apothecia and cultures. Morphology was studied and phylogenetic analysis (rDNA: ITS and LSU) was conducted using both sexual and asexual morphs. Nematodes were added to cultures to verify the formation and morphology of the trapping structures. Our results show that the species is in the Arthrobotrys clade, the phylogenetically closest relative being a possibly Mexican genotype with unknown morphology, erroneously referred to as Arthrobotrys musiformis in GenBank. Macro- and micromorphological, ecological and biogeographic data are provided along with a discussion of closely related species.
PDF Blackwell, M., Haelewaters, D. & Pfister, D.H., 2020.
Laboulbeniomycetes: Evolution, natural history, and Thaxter’s final word.
Mycologia , 112.
Publisher's VersionAbstractHistorically, thallus-forming Laboulbeniomycetes, including the orders Laboulbeniales and Herpomycetales, were set apart because of their distinctive morphology and ecology. Although some biologists correctly interpreted these arthropod ectoparasites as fungi, even ascomycetes, others thought they were worms, red algae, or members of taxa described especially for them. Speculation on the evolution of the group involving red algae, the morphology-based Floridean Hypothesis, persisted deep into the 20th century, in part because valid alternatives were not presented. Although the distinctive features of Laboulbeniales clearly set them apart from other fungi, the difficulty was in the absence of characters grouping them among the fungi. Thaxter considered the Laboulbeniales to be ascomycetes, but he avoided phylogenetic discussions involved in the Floridean Hypothesis all of his life. Eventually, developmental studies of the life history of Pyxidiophora species, hyphal perithecial ascomycetes with 2-celled ascospores, revealed characters connecting Laboulbeniales to other ascomycetes. The distinctive morphological features of Laboulbeniales (absence of mycelium, a thallus developed from 2-celled ascospores by cell divisions in several planes, arthropod parasitism) can be best understood by comparison with Pyxidiophora. The development of a 3-dimensional thallus composed of true parenchyma occurs not only in Laboulbeniales, but also in Pyxidiophora species. The life history of arthropod ectoparasitism of Laboulbeniales as well as mycoparasitism and phoretic dispersal by arthropods of Pyxidiophora species can be explained by Tranzschel’s Law, originally applied to rust fungi. Molecular analyses including other arthropod-associated fungi have contributed to a better understanding of an enlarged class, Laboulbeniomycetes, which now includes a clade comprising Chantransiopsis, Tetrameronycha, and Subbaromyces. A two-locus phylogenetic tree highlights evolutionary and life history questions with regard to the placement of Herpomycetales as the first diverging lineage of the Laboulbeniomycetes. The sister group for all the Laboulbeniomycetes remains to be discovered.
PDF Beimforde, C., et al., 2020.
Sareomycetes cl. nov.: A new proposal for placement of the resinicolous genus Sarea (Ascomycota, Pezizomycotina).
Fungal Systematics and Evolution , 6.
Publisher's VersionAbstractFull 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.
PDF Haelewaters, D., et al., 2020.
Draft Genome Sequence of the Globally Distributed Cockroach-Infecting Fungus Herpomyces periplanetae Strain D. Haelew. 1187d.
Microbiology Resource Announcements , 9 (6).
Publisher's VersionAbstractHerpomyces periplanetae is an obligate biotroph of Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach. Its nearly cosmopolitan distribution is shaped by its globally invasive host and the international pet trade. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of H. periplanetae, based on a thallus from P. americana collected in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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