Caliciopsis moriondi, a new species for a fungus long confused with the pine pathogen C. pinea

Abstract

The genus Caliciopsis (Eurotiomycetes, Coryneliales) includes saprobic and plant pathogenic species. Caliciopsis canker is caused by Caliciopsis pinea Peck, a species first reported in the 19th century in North America. In recent years, increasing numbers of outbreaks of Caliciopsis canker have been reported on different Pinus spp. in the eastern USA. In Europe, the disease has only occasionally been reported causing cankers, mostly on Pinus radiata in stressed plantations. The aim of this study was to clarify the taxonomy of Caliciopsis specimens collected from infected Pinus spp. in Europe and North America using an integrative approach, combining morphology and phylogenetic analyses of three loci. The pathogenicity of the fungus was also considered. Two distinct groups were evident, based on morphology and multilocus phylogenetic analyses. These represent the known pathogen Caliciopsis pinea that occurs in North America and a morphologically similar, but phylogenetically distinct, species described here as Caliciopsis moriondisp. nov., found in Europe and at least one location in eastern North America. Caliciopsis moriondi differs from C. pinea in various morphological features including the length of the ascomata, as well as their distribution on the stromata.

Pewenomyces kutranfy gen. nov. et sp. nov. causal agent of an important canker disease on Araucaria araucana in Chile

“…calicioides ), ascospores ellipsoidal to subglobose or ovoid (except C . indica ) with smooth walls (Fitzpatrick, 1942b; Garrido‐Benavent & Pérez‐Ortega, 2015; Migliorini et al, 2020; Pratibha et al, 2010). Because the genus Hypsotheca has only recently been resurrected and one of its species, Hypsotheca eucalyptorum , was described only from culture, the description of morphological characteristics for this genus is limited, especially regarding the sexual morph.…”

“…Those authors showed that species of Caliciopsis that had not had their identity confirmed by DNA sequence data might not actually belong to the genus, and thus, their morphology may not be representative of the genus. If only the nine species confirmed as Caliciopsis by sequence data are taken into account (Table 3), the common morphological traits are ascomata over 1 mm tall (except for C. indica and C. moriondi), with the ascigerous swelling terminal to subterminal (except C. calicioides), ascospores ellipsoidal to subglobose or ovoid (except C. indica) with smooth walls (Fitzpatrick, 1942b;Garrido-Benavent & Pérez-Ortega, 2015;Migliorini et al, 2020;Pratibha et al, 2010).…”

“…This family of fungi is emerging as an important group of tree pathogens. It now includes a group of Caliciopsis species known to cause cankers on several conifer species, such as C. moriondi (Migliorini et al, 2020) and Caliciopsis pinea on Pinus spp.,…”

“…It now includes a group of Caliciopsis species known to cause cankers on several conifer species, such as C . moriondi (Migliorini et al, 2020) and Caliciopsis pinea on Pinus spp., Caliciopsis pseudotsugae on Douglas‐fir ( Pseudotsuga spp.) and Caliciopsis orientalis on Tsuga spp.…”

Expansion of Ash Dieback towards the scattered Fraxinus excelsior range of the Italian peninsula

“…Amplifications were carried out in a Mastercycler (Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) using the following PCR conditions: initial denaturation at 95 °C for 5 min; followed by 35 cycles of denaturation at 94 °C for 90 s, annealing at 56 °C for 1 min, and extension at 72 °C for 2 min; and a final elongation step at 72 °C for 10 min. (Migliorini et al 2020). Amplification products were separated by electrophoresis on gels containing 1% (w/v) of agarose LE (GeneSpin).…”