Abstract:
The Botryosphaeriaceae represents an important, cosmopolitan family of latent
pathogens infecting woody plants. Recent studies on native trees in southern Africa have
revealed an extensive diversity of species of Botryosphaeriaceae, about half of which have
not been previously described. This study adds to this growing body of knowledge, by
discovering five new species of the Botryosphaeriaceae on Acacia karroo, a commonly
occurring native tree in southern Africa. These species were isolated from both healthy and
diseased tissues, suggesting they could be latent pathogens. The isolates were characterized
based on their morphology and compared to other species for which DNA sequence data
are available, in phylogenetic analyses based on the ITS, TEF-1α, β-tubulin and LSU gene
regions. The five new species were described as Diplodia allocellula, Dothiorella
dulcispinae, Do. brevicollis, Spencermartinsia pretoriensis and Tiarosporella urbisrosarum.
Evidence emerging from this study suggests that many more species of the
Botryosphaeriaceae remain to be discovered in the southern Africa.