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Title: FUNGICOLOUS HYPOCREACEAE (ASCOMYCETES: HYPOCREALES) FROM KHAO YAI NATIONAL PARK, THAILAND

Author
item Samuels, Gary
item POLDMAA, K - UNIV OF TARTU, ESTONIA

Submitted to: Sydowia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/25/2003
Publication Date: 6/30/2004
Citation: Samuels, G.J. 2004. FUNGICOLOUS HYPOCREACEAE (ASCOMYCETES: HYPOCREALES) FROM KHAO YAI NATIONAL PARK, THAILAND. Sydowia. 56(1):79-130.

Interpretive Summary: Tropical fungi remain generally unexplored and undescribed, yet many of these fungi have potential as biological control agents or other uses for humanity. In this paper a group of fungi that grow on other fungi have been collected from a nature preserve in Thailand. Among the 29 species of fungi identified, eight of these species are new to science. Each newly discovered species is named, described, and illustrated as well as distinguished based on molecular characteristics. These fungi are maintained and deposited as living cultures in international repositories where they are available to plant pathologists and other scientists who might be interested in them as potential biological control agents.

Technical Abstract: An amazingly high diversity of members of the Hypocreaceae (Ascomycetes: Hypocreales) was found in the course of two mycological expeditions (1997, 2001) to the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, an ASEAN National Heritage Site. In the present publication members of the Hypocreaceae that are exclusively, or primarily, fungicolous are described. The specimens found belong to the genera Hypomyces (16 species), Cladobotryum (5), Sphaerostilbella (4), Sporophagomyces (2), and Hypocrea (2). Here we describe four new species in Hypomyces, two in Cladobotryum and two in Sphaerostilbella. Most of the remaining species listed represent new records for tropical Asia. These poorly known species are characterized in detail and illustrated. LSU rDNA was sequenced from several Thai and some other tropical isolates of Hypomyces and Cladobotryum (presumed asexual Hypomyces). The sequences were added to an existing data matrix, the analysis of which provides a preliminary understanding of the relationships of the studied species with other members of Hypocreaceae. Molecular data were also considered in species delimitation while describing new taxa.