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Title: Verrucostoma, a new genus in the Bionectriaceae from the Bonin Islands, Japan

Author
item HIROOKA, YURI - University Of Maryland
item KOBAYASHI, TAKAO - Tokyo University Of Agriculture & Technology
item ONO, TSUYOSHI - Tokyo Metropolitan Agricultural And Forestry Research Center
item Rossman, Amy
item CHAVERRI, PRISCILA - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: Mycologia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/6/2009
Publication Date: 3/11/2010
Citation: Hirooka, Y., Kobayashi, T., Ono, T., Rossman, A.Y., Chaverri, P. 2010. Verrucostoma, a new genus in the Bionectriaceae from the Bonin Islands, Japan. Mycologia. 102(2):418-429.

Interpretive Summary: Fungi are a diverse group of organisms that cause serious diseases of crop plants and forest trees. Many new species of fungi have yet to be discovered and characterized, especially those from remote areas such as the Bonin Islands of Japan. In this research a new species of fungus was discovered on an endemic plant in the Bonin Islands. This species belongs in a group of fungi that includes many species that cause diseases of plants. It is not known if this new fungus causes a disease. This new species is named, described and illustrated in both its sexual and asexual states. This research will be used by foresters, plant pathologists and ecologists who study the biological diversity of fungi.

Technical Abstract: Verrucostoma freycinetiae gen. et sp. nov. collected on dead leaves of Freycinetia boninensis (Pandanaceae) in Hahajima, Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands, Tokyo, Japan, is described and illustrated. The new genus is characterized by having pale orange perithecia with protuberances around the perithecial apex, no color change in 3% potassium hydroxide (KOH) and lactic acid (LA), unitunicate asci, spinulose ascospores and an Acremonium-like anamorph. Morphological characters were evaluated and compared with other genera in the Bionectriaceae and Nectriaceae (Hypocreales). Verrucostoma is morphologically most similar to Bionectria (Bionectriaceae), from which it differs in the formation of conspicuous protuberances around the perithecial apex and the Acremonium-like anamorph. Moreover, molecular phylogenetic analyses of Verrucostoma and other members of the Bionectriaceae and Nectriaceae based on '-actin (act), large subunit nuclear ribosomal DNA (LSU) and RNA polymerase subunit 1 (rpb1) sequences supported the morphological data. The results of this study confirm that V. freycinetiae is distinct from other genera in the Nectria-like fungi and that it belongs in the Bionectriaceae.