Chaenothecopsis khayensis, a new resinicolous calicioid fungus on African mahogany

Abstract

The new species Chaenothecopsis khayensis (Ascomycota, Mycocaliciaceae) is described from Ghana, western Africa, on the resin of Khaya anthotheca and K. ivorensis. The species is distinctive in forming asci without crosiers and in possessing ascospores that are faintly longitudinally striate. Analysis of large subunit rDNA gene sequences positioned this species within a clade corresponding to the Mycocaliciales and identified its closest relative as Sphinctrina leucopoda. Chaenothecopsis khayensis occurs commonly on resin exuding from trees damaged by the larvae of the mahogany shoot borer (Hypsipyla sp.), and we discuss the possible ecological relationship between the fungus and these moths.

Stuck in time – a new Chaenothecopsis species with proliferating ascomata from Cunninghamia resin and its fossil ancestors in European amber

“…6. The phylogeny is broadly consistent and adds to the previous results of Tibell and Vinuesa (2005) and Tuovila et al (2011a). It places C. proliferatus in the same clade with several other Chaenothecopsis species with one-septate spores.…”

“…In the Mycocaliciales Tibell & Wedin (Eurotiomycetes, Ascomycota) some 10 % of the approximately 150 known species grow on plant exudates (Tibell and Titov 1995;Rikkinen 1999Rikkinen , 2003aTitov 2006;Tuovila et al 2011aTuovila et al , 2011b. Most of these fungi live on conifers and produce perennial, stipitate ascomata on hardened resin and/or resin-impregnated wood.…”

<p align="left">Chaenothecopsis neocaledonica sp. nov.: The first resinicolous mycocalicioid fungus from an araucarian conifer

“…Several fossilized specimens preserved in Oligocene and Eocene ambers demonstrate that the association between mycocalicalean fungi and conifer exudates is at least 35 to 50 million years old (Rikkinen & Poinar 2000. While the early evolution of the resinicolous ecology remains unclear, all the Chaenothecopsis clades with species on conifer resins are clearly distinct from the single clade of species from angiosperm exudates (Tuovila et al 2011a.…”

“…Several other Chaenothecopsis species live on angiosperm exudates and these include temperate, subtropical and tropical taxa (e.g. Funk & Kujt 1982, Samuels & Buchanan 1983, Tuovila et al 2011a.…”

Three resinicolous North American species of Mycocaliciales in Europe with a re-evaluation of Chaenothecopsis oregana Rikkinen

“…The diversity of the resinicolous species was revised by Tibell and Titov in 1995, but several additional species have since been described from plant exudates (e.g. Rikkinen 2003b, 2003c, Tuovila et al 2011.…”