Austropuccinia licaniae, first congeneric with the myrtle rust pathogen A. psidii.

In 1895 and 2001, rust fungi affecting Licania trees (Chrysobalanchaceae) in Brazil were described as Uredo licaniae by Hennings in the state of Goiás and as Phakopsora tomentosae by Ferreira et al. in the state of Amazonas, respectively. Recently, a Licania rust fungus collected close to the Amazonian type location sharing symptoms with the former two species was subjected to morphological examinations and molecular phylogenetic analyses using 28S nuc rDNA (ITS2-28S) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit III (CO3) gene sequences. Since the original type specimen of Ph. tomentosae is considered lost, we carefully reviewed the type description and questioned the identity of the telium, which justified the description of the fungus as a Phakopsora species. Furthermore, the additional revision of the type material described by Hennings revealed that Ph. tomentosae is a synonym of U. licaniae. Based on the morphological examinations, disease symptoms, and shared hosts, we concluded that the newly collected material is conspecific with U. licaniae. However, the phylogenetic analyses rejected allocation in Phakopsora and instead assigned the Licania rust fungus in a sister relationship with Austropuccinia psidii (Sphaerophragmiaceae), the causal agent of the globally invasive myrtle rust pathogen. We therefore favored a recombination of U. licaniae (syn. Ph. tomentosae) into Austropuccinia and proposed the new name Austropuccina licaniae for the second species now identified for this genus. The fungus shares conspicuous symptoms with A. psidii, causing often severe infections of growing leaves and shoots that lead to leaf necrosis, leaf shedding, and eventually to the dieback of entire shoots. In view of the very similar symptoms of its aggressively invasive sister species, we briefly discuss the current state of knowledge about A. licaniae and the potential risks, and the opportunity of its identification.

Cerradopsora, a new genus of neotropical rust fungi.

Two Cerrado rust fungi, Phakopsora rossmaniae and Aplopsora hennenii, described in 1993 and 1995 and originally assigned to families Phakopsoraceae and Ochropsoraceae, respectively, were subjected to molecular phylogenetic analyses using fragments of the nuc 28S and 18S rDNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 3 (CO3) gene. Although both taxa were morphologically well placed in their original genera, they were shown to belong in a strongly supported new lineage within the Raveneliineae distant from the Phakopsoraceae and Ochropsoraceae. Therefore, we properly treated this lineage as the new genus Cerradopsora now harboring C. rossmaniae (type species) and C. hennenii. However, this novel phakopsoroid genus remains in uncertain familial position without support to be included in any of the families that share space within the Raveneliineae.

Filling a gap in the taxonomy of phyllachoroid fungi: Proposition of Neopolystigma, gen. nov., and the new family Neopolystigmataceae.

A Polystigma-like found on an herbaceous to shrubby species of Fabaceae (Andira humilis) in the Brazilian Cerrado was morphologically close to Polystigma pusillum, a leaf parasite on Andira inermis collected in Central America and Brazil. Phylogenetic analyses using a combination of the rDNA 28S, 18S, and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions placed both fungi in the Phyllachorales, and not in Polystigamataceae/Xylariales, where Polystigma species belong, and characteristically found on members of the Rosaceae, causing red leaf blotch containing bright-colored fungal stromata spread on the lesions. This disease prevails in orchards in the Northern Hemisphere, infecting Amygdalus, Cerasus, Padus, and Prunus species, but never in the Tropics. Polystigma species infecting other botanical families have been reallocated in different families, orders, and even classes in Ascomycota. In our phylogenetic analyses, the two species on Andira were allocated in Phyllachorales but separated in a well-supported cluster from Phyllachoraceae and Phaeochoraceae. In relation to Telimenaceae, the statistical support is not strong; however, considering that its type genus, Telimena, was never sequenced, we choose to accept Neopolystigma (type N. saraivae) as the type genus of a new family, Neopolystigmataceae. The sister species of N. saraivae, Polystigma pusillum found on A. inermis, was recombined into N. pusillum.

Naming Potentially Endangered Parasites: Foliicolous Mycobiota of Dimorphandra wilsonii, a Highly Threatened Brazilian Tree Species.

A survey of foliicolous fungi associated with Dimorphandra wilsonii and Dimorphandra mollis (Fabaceae) was conducted in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Dimorphandra wilsonii is a tree species native to the Brazilian Cerrado that is listed as critically endangered. Fungi strictly depending on this plant species may be on the verge of co-extinction. Here, results of the pioneering description of this mycobiota are provided to contribute to the neglected field of microfungi conservation. The mycobiota of D. mollis, which is a common species with a broad geographical distribution that co-occurs with D. wilsonii, was examined simultaneously to exclude fungal species occurring on both species from further consideration for conservation because microfungi associated with D. wilsonii should not be regarded as under threat of co-extinction. Fourteen ascomycete fungal species were collected, identified, described and illustrated namely: Byssogene wilsoniae sp. nov., Geastrumia polystigmatis, Janetia dimorphandra-mollis sp. nov., Janetia wilsoniae sp. nov., Johansonia chapadiensis, Microcalliopsis dipterygis, Phillipsiella atra, Piricauda paraguayensis, Pseudocercospora dimorphandrae sp. nov., Pseudocercosporella dimorphandrae sp. nov., Ramichloridiopsis wilsoniae sp. and gen. nov., Stomiopeltis suttoniae, Trichomatomyces byrsonimae and Vesiculohyphomyces cerradensis. Three fungi were exclusively found on D. wilsonii and were regarded as potentially threatened of extinction: B. wilsoniae, J. wilsoniae and R. wilsoniae.

Uromyces hawksworthii nom. nov. for Aecidium goyazense, on Phthirusa stelis (Loranthaceae) from the Brazilian Cerrado.

The sexual morph of Aecidium goyazense collected in the Brazilian Cerrado was morphologically characterized by light microscopy and SEM, and shown to be a species of Uromyces, for which the name Uromyces hawksworthii nom. nov. is introduced, and designated as its epitype. This is the second Uromyces species known to infect the tropical genus Phthirusa (Loranthaceae). DNA sequences were generated from the ITS and 28S rRNA (LSU) regions of DNA recovered from aeciospores as well as teliospores. This fungus is compared with other Uromyces species known from Loranthaceae.