Moelleriella, and Samuelsia - CBS

Ch av e r r i e t a l.Table 1. (Continued).Teleomorph 1 Anamorph 1,2 Source DistributionS. intermedia 4 “A.” intermedia NWS. rufobrunnea 3 Not named NWS. sheikhii 4 Not named NWNot known A. acutispora OWNot known A. australiensis OWNot known A. badia OWNot known A. crenulata OWNot known A. flava OWNot known A. papillata OWNot known A. tahitensis OWNot known A. tamurai OW1“Not named” refers to the anamorph or teleomorph that has been described but no name was given; or “not known” when the anamorph has not been documented in theliterature.2Aschersonia names in quotes (e.g. “Aschersonia”) denotes taxa that are not in Aschersonia sensu stricto.3Indicates connections made in the present study.4Based on anamorph; no mature perithecia observed.Taxonomic Background: Subdividing Hypocrella/Aschersonia s. l.Few studies have comprehensively dealt with the taxonomy ofHypocrella and related genera or have included more than a fewspecies (Petch 1921, Mains 1959a, b, Liu et al. 2006). The firsttaxonomic treatment of the genus was made by Parkin (1906)who considered extensive collections from Sri Lanka. The seminalmonograph of Petch (1921) treated 57 species of Hypocrella,including anamorphs and teleomorphs from the New and OldWorlds. Mains (1959a, 1959b) dealt with 24 species of Hypocrellaand 15 species of Aschersonia.Petch (1921) proposed Hypocrella subgenus Fleischeriafor species of Hypocrella in which the Aschersonia state lacksparaphyses (and Aschersonia subg. Leprieuria for the correspondinganamorphs). He considered that most of these species attackscale insects (Coccidae; Lecaniidae according to Petch 1921).In that same work, Petch proposed Hypocrella subg. Hypocrella(as “Euhypocrella” see Art. 21 ICBN) for species on Aleyrodidaeand with paraphyses in the conidiomata of their Aschersonia subg.Aschersonia (as “Euaschersonia” see Art. 21 ICBN) anamorphs.Recent evidence reveals that, although sometimes diagnostic forindividual species, the presence of paraphyses in the conidiomais not phylogenetically informative (Liu & Hodge 2005, Liu et al.2006). Dingley (1954) also questioned this division since “A.” duplexBerk., with paraphyses in the conidioma, is consistently associatedwith Coccidae. In addition, other studies showed that cultures ofAschersonia may lack paraphyses whereas these were presentin the conidioma on the host, further indicating that the presenceof paraphyses is not a stable taxonomic character (Hywel-Jones1993, Hywel-Jones & Evans 1993, Meekes 2001).Petch (1921) also discussed the possibility of splittingHypocrella into groups characterised by the form of the stroma.However, he mentioned that these forms “…grade into one anotherto such an extent that this character cannot be relied on.” In theoriginal diagnosis of the genus, Fleischeria was distinguished fromHypocrella by its harder stroma (Penzig & Saccardo 1901). Petch(1921) synonymised the two genera because species of Hypocrellacan vary in hardness, from hard in H. schizostachyi Henn. (=M. schizostachyi) to soft in H. convexa Racib. (= M. convexa).Chaverri et al. (2005b) demonstrated the presence of three naturalgroups (i.e. clades) in Hypocrella s. l. based on DNA sequencedata that correlated with stromatal morphology. The Effuse grouphas flat, effuse stromata of loose hyphal tissue, broad hypothalli,and whitish colouration (e.g. M. evansii, M. libera, M. madidiensis,M. ochracea, M. raciborskii, M. rhombispora, and M. zhongdongii),except pale yellow to orange in the M. basicystis species complex;the Globose group includes species that have globose stromata thatare generally darker in colour (yellow to brownish), large, compacttissue, hard or coriaceous, moderately to strongly tuberculate, andwithout hypothalli (e.g. M. africana, M. boliviensis, M. cornuta,M. epiphylla, M. gaertneriana, M. insperata, M. macrostroma, M.turbinata, and M. schizostachyi); and the Pulvinate group (nowHypocrella and Samuelsia) comprises species that have pulvinate orcushion-like stromata, somewhat compact and flattened, yellowishor green, sometimes brownish, with or without hypothalli, generallychanging colour in 3 % KOH (e.g. H. aurantiaca, H. disciformis,H. viridans, H. discoidea, H. hirsuta, S. geonomis, S. chalalensis,S. rufobrunnea, and S. sheikhii). The groups defined by Chaverriet al. (2005b) correlate roughly with some of the groupings thatPetch (1921) discussed. Although there are distinct phenotypiccharacteristics that distinguish each of the three major groupsdefined in Chaverri et al. (2005b), a formal generic or subgenericrevision of the taxonomy to distinguish the Effuse, Globose, andPulvinate groups was not proposed.Geographical DistributionHypocrella, Moelleriella, and Samuelsia are mainly distributed inthe Tropics, with a few species found in the Subtropics (e.g.M.colliculosa, M. duplex, M. guaranitica, S. intermedia, H. aurantiaca,and H. citrina) (Table 1). This pattern of distribution and evolutionarydynamics have been observed in many other organisms where taxapreferentially originate in the Tropics and expand toward the poleswithout losing their tropical presence (Jablonski et al. 2006). Thismight explain the higher biodiversity of fungi in the tropics compared4