Wounds on Rapanea melanophloeos provide habitat for a large diversity of Ophiostomatales including four new species

Abstract

Rapanea melanophloeos, an important canopy tree in Afromontane forests, is commonly utilised for medicinal bark harvesting. Wounds created from these activities provide entrance for many fungi, including arthropod-associated members of the Ophiostomatales and Microascales (ophiostomatoid fungi). In this study we assess the diversity of wound-associated Ophiostomatales on storm-damaged R. melanophloeos trees in the Afromontane forests of South Africa. Five species were identified based on micro-morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. These included Ophiostoma stenoceras and four newly described taxa Sporothrix itsvoense sp. nov., S. rapaneae sp. nov., S. utae sp. nov. and O. noisomeae sp. nov. Four of these are members of the S. schenckii-O. stenoceras complex (O. stenoceras, S. itsvoense sp. nov., S. rapaneae sp. nov., S. utae) while O. noisomeae groups basal in the Ophiostomatales alongside the S. lignivora complex and Graphilbum. In addition to other taxa known from this host, the present study shows that there is a rich, yet still poorly explored, diversity of Ophiostomatales associated with R. melanophloeos in Afromontane forests. More taxa are likely to be discovered with increased research effort. These must be assessed in terms of pathogenicity towards this ecologically and economically important tree.