Book of Abstracts (PDF) - International Mycological Association

IMC7 Tuesday August 13th Lectures
153 - The Xylariaceae of Ecuador - an update
T. Læssøe
Botanical Institute, Copenhagen University, Denmark. - Email:
thomasl@bot.ku.dk
Besides the early effort by Lagerheim and Patouillard
(1890s) not much was known about Ecuadorean
Xylariaceae until the current effort initiated in 1987. Even
today many areas of high potential remain unexplored but
at least a rough picture of the xylariaceous biodiversity can
now be presented. Ca. 17 genera have been recorded, and
Xylaria rules with more than 98 species, many of which
lack formal names. Camillea has the highest country record
known with 23 spp. Hypoxylon is also represented with ca.
23 spp., but a high proportion are only known from single
records, so this number should increase. The recent survey
has documented the presence of Entonaema pallida in the
country. Anthostomella and Rosellinia remain poorly
known, but R. evansii has been found as new to South
America. It is clear that the Amazon basin has the highest
diversity with more than 110 species, but many of the
novelties discovered occur at higher altitudes. Also the
Choco region of the northwest and the southern provinces
have produced promising results. Alnus acuminata was
investigated in order to establish whether it shares
xylariaceous fungi with its temperate relatives, and both
Hypoxylon multiforme and H. fuscum were recorded
together with the more subtropical/tropical Daldinia
childiae. Mycogeographically it is interesting to note that
members of the genera Phylacia, Thamnomyces and
Leprieuria so far only have been recorded within the
Amazon basin.
154 - Where are the Xylariaceae? The Southeast Asia
connection
M.A. Whalley 1* & S. Thienhirun 2
1 School of Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores
University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, U.K. -
2 Forest Products research Division, Forest Research
Office, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok 10900,
Thailand. - E-mail: mawhalley@hotmail.com
The family Xylariaceae is truly cosmopolitan but the
greatest concentration of species occurs in the tropics. In
the past it has always been acknowledged that tropical
South and Central America house the greatest diversity.
However, recent surveys in Thailand, Malaysia and Papua
New Guinea suggest that the 'species gap' between the old
and the new tropics is not as exaggerated as previously
suggested. The lack of collectors, and indeed specialists in
Southeast Asia, has contributed significantly to underrecording
in the region. For example Camillea has always
been considered to be a South American and Central
American genus but two new species have recently been
described from Malaysia and C. tinctor has been found to
be regularly collected in Malaysia, Thailand and Papua
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Book of Abstracts
New Guinea. A total of 12 genera of Xylariaceae are
reported from Malaysia and at least 15 taxa are considered
to be previously undescribed. The Xylariaceae is now
known to be well represented in Thailand with 17 genera
recognised. Studies in Papua New Guinea also reveal a
strong presence there. It is of some significance that in each
of the countries surveyed a considerable number of the
collections of Hypoxylon and Xylaria are probably
undescribed whilst others are infrequently reported. The
range of species reported from the region will be discussed,
together with variation associated with habitat and host,
and the findings compared with currently available records
from Africa and tropical America.
155 - Can lifestyle be used to find the rare or the new
among the Xylariaceae?
A.J.S. Whalley 1* & P. Sihanonth 2
1 School of Bimolecular Science, Liverpool John Moores
Universitys, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, U.K. -
2 Department of Microbiology, Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok 10330, Thailand. - E-mail:
bmsawhal@livjm.ac.uk
Although the Xylariaceae are seen primarily as wood
inhabitants genera such as Hypocopra, Poronia,
Podosordaria, and Wawelia are specifically dung
inhabitants. Wawelia is also xerophilic. Other members of
the family are litter, fruit or seed inhabitants and others are
associated with soil or insects. The majority are
saprotrophic but an increasing number of taxa are being
recognized as phytopathogens through latent invasion in
stressed hosts. The Xylariaceae also exhibit an outstanding
presence as endophytes, especially in the tropics. Many
taxa also have a strong host preference and some seem to
be host specific. Within the wood inhabiting species not
only is host important but also the nature of the host. Some
species grow only on wood which retains its bark others
only on decorticated wood and some only on well-rotted
and water soaked wood. Thus the nature of the substratum
and the habitat strongly influence the species which will be
found. Studies on endophytic Xylariaceae show that some
of the species isolated appear not to have been recorded
from that vicinity and in some cases they appear to be
previously undescribed. There must be teleomorphs
somewhere? A number of xylariaceous taxa have been
found to be associated with mangrove ecosystems and
apparently even marine situations. It is proposed that host,
habitat and climate all interact to dictate which taxa are
present and that a knowledge of these conditions should
prove useful in detecting rare and new species.
156 - Rosellinia morphology: the first step towards
molecular studies
L. Petrini
Scientific Advisor, Tèra d'sott 5, CH-6949 Comano,
Switzerland. - E-mail: lpetrini@swissonline.ch