Abstract:
The genus Celoporthe was first described
when C. dispersa was discovered in South Africa
associated with dieback and cankers on trees in the
Myrtales. Four additional species were recently
described from Eucalyptus and Syzygium cumini in
China as well as S. aromaticum and Eucalyptus in
Indonesia. Inoculation trials have shown that all
Celoporthe species, including those that have not been
found on Eucalyptus species in nature, are pathogenic
to Eucalyptus and they are thus potentially threatening
to commercial Eucalyptus forestry. New isolates,
morphologically similar to Celoporthe, have been
collected from S. legatti in South Africa and S.
guineense in Zambia. Multigene phylogenetic analyses
based on DNA sequences of the ITS region, TEF1a
gene and two areas of the b-tubulin gene revealed
additional cryptic species in Celoporthe. Phylogenetic
data were supported by morphological differences.
These resulted in the description of two previously
unknown species of Celoporthe, namely C. fontana and
C. woodiana, for two of these cryptic groups, while the
third group represented C. dispersa. These species all
can readily infect Eucalyptus as well as several species
of Syzygium, the latter of which are native to Africa.
