Fungi in the class
are ecologically diverse, including mycorrhizas, endophytes of roots and leaves, plant pathogens, aquatic and aero-aquatic hyphomycetes, mammalian pathogens, and saprobes. These ...fungi are commonly detected in cultures from diseased tissue and from environmental DNA extracts. The identification of specimens from such character-poor samples increasingly relies on DNA sequencing. However, the current classification of
is still largely based on morphologically defined taxa, especially at higher taxonomic levels. Consequently, the formal
classification is frequently poorly congruent with the relationships suggested by DNA sequencing studies. Previous class-wide phylogenies of
have been based on ribosomal DNA markers, with most of the published multi-gene studies being focussed on particular genera or families. In this paper we collate data available from specimens representing both sexual and asexual morphs from across the genetic breadth of the class, with a focus on generic type species, to present a phylogeny based on up to 15 concatenated genes across 279 specimens. Included in the dataset are genes that were extracted from 72 of the genomes available for the class, including 10 new genomes released with this study. To test the statistical support for the deepest branches in the phylogeny, an additional phylogeny based on 3156 genes from 51 selected genomes is also presented. To fill some of the taxonomic gaps in the 15-gene phylogeny, we further present an ITS gene tree, particularly targeting ex-type specimens of generic type species. A small number of novel taxa are proposed:
ord. nov., and
and
fams. nov. The formal taxonomic changes are limited in part because of the ad hoc nature of taxon and specimen selection, based purely on the availability of data. The phylogeny constitutes a framework for enabling future taxonomically targeted studies using deliberate specimen selection. Such studies will ideally include designation of epitypes for the type species of those genera for which DNA is not able to be extracted from the original type specimen, and consideration of morphological characters whenever genetically defined clades are recognized as formal taxa within a classification.
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In this paper we present an updated checklist of thallus-forming Laboulbeniomycetes (Ascomycota, Pezizomycotina), that is, the orders Herpomycetales and Laboulbeniales, from Belgium and the ...Netherlands. Two species are newly described based on morphology, molecular data (ITS, LSU ribosomal DNA) and ecology (host association). These are
Hesperomyces halyziae
on
Halyzia sedecimguttata
(Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) from both countries and
Laboulbenia quarantenae
on
Bembidion biguttatum
(Coleoptera, Carabidae) from Belgium. In addition, nine new country records are presented. For Belgium:
Laboulbenia aubryi
on
Amara aranea
(Coleoptera, Carabidae) and
Rhachomyces spinosus
on
Syntomus foveatus
(Coleoptera, Carabidae). For the Netherlands:
Chitonomyces melanurus
on
Laccophilus minutus
(Coleoptera, Dytiscidae),
Euphoriomyces agathidii
on
Agathidium laevigatum
(Coleoptera, Leiodidae),
Laboulbenia fasciculata
on
Omophron limbatum
(Coleoptera, Carabidae),
Laboulbenia metableti
on
Syntomus foveatus
and
S. truncatellus
(Coleoptera, Carabidae),
Laboulbenia pseudomasei
on
Pterostichus melanarius
(Coleoptera, Carabidae),
Rhachomyces canariensis
on
Trechus obtusus
(Coleoptera, Carabidae), and
Stigmatomyces hydrelliae
on
Hydrellia albilabris
(Diptera, Ephydridae). Finally, an identification key to 140 species of thallus-forming Laboulbeniomycetes in Belgium and the Netherlands is provided. Based on the combined data, we are able to identify mutual gaps that need to be filled as well as weigh the impact of chosen strategies (fieldwork, museum collections) and techniques in these neighboring countries. The aim of this work is to serve as a reference for studying Laboulbeniomycetes fungi in Europe.
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Fungi are diverse organisms that occupy important niches in natural settings and agricultural settings, acting as decomposers, mutualists, and parasites and pathogens. Interactions between fungi and ...other organisms, specifically invertebrates, are understudied. Their numbers are also severely underestimated. Invertebrates exist in many of the same spaces as fungi and are known to engage in fungal feeding or mycophagy. This review aims to provide a comprehensive, global view of mycophagy in invertebrates to bring attention to areas that need more research, by prospecting the existing literature. Separate searches on the Web of Science were performed using the terms "mycophagy" and "fungivore". Invertebrate species and corresponding fungal species were extracted from the articles retrieved, whether the research was field- or laboratory-based, and the location of the observation if field-based. Articles were excluded if they did not list at least a genus identification for both the fungi and invertebrates. The search yielded 209 papers covering seven fungal phyla and 19 invertebrate orders. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are the most represented fungal phyla whereas Coleoptera and Diptera make up most of the invertebrate observations. Most field-based observations originated from North America and Europe. Research on invertebrate mycophagy is lacking in some important fungal phyla, invertebrate orders, and geographic regions.
Laboulbeniomycetes is a class of fungi that have obligate associations with arthropod hosts, either for dispersal (order Pyxidiophorales) or as biotrophic parasites (orders Herpomycetales and ...Laboulbeniales). Here, we focus on Herpomycetales and Laboulbeniales, which include fungi that form thalli, 3-dimensional, multicellular units of 1000 s of cells. Based on recently published data regarding patterns of speciation, we present the One-Host-One-Parasite model (1H1P) for haustorial thallus-forming Laboulbeniomycetes. We hypothesize that taxa with haustoria, rhizoidal structures that make contact with the host's body cavity, have very strict host specificity. For taxa without haustoria, the microhabitat-as selected by the host-governs host shifting, presence or absence of the fungus, abundance, effective host range, and geographic distribution. We make suggestions for future research including fluorescent labeling of waxy lipids and mass spectrometry. These techniques have the potential to generate the data necessary to evaluate the here proposed 1H1P hypothesis for Herpomycetales and Laboulbeniales.
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Fungi are among the least known organisms on earth, with an estimated number of species between 1.5 and 10 million. This number is expected to be refined, especially with increasing knowledge about ...microfungi in undersampled habitats and increasing amounts of data derived from environmental DNA sequencing. A significant proportion of newly generated sequences fail to match with already named species, and thus represent what has been referred to as fungal "dark taxa". Due to the challenges associated with observing, identifying, and preserving sporophores, many macro- and microfungal species are only known from a single collection, specimen, isolate, and/or sequence-a singleton. Mycologists are consequently used to working with "rare" sequences and specimens. However, rarity and singleton phenomena lack consideration and valorization in fungal studies. In particular, the practice of publishing new fungal species names based on a single specimen remains a cause of debate. Here, we provide some elements of reflection on this issue in the light of the specificities of the fungal kingdom and global change context. If multiple independent sources of data support the existence of a new taxon, we encourage mycologists to proceed with formal description, irrespective of the number of specimens at hand. Although the description of singleton-based species may not be considered best practice, it does represent responsible science in the light of closing the Linnean biodiversity shortfall.
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The dramatic spread of invasive alien species over the past century is considered to be an important threat to ecosystems worldwide. The harlequin ladybird,
Harmonia axyridis
, from eastern Asia, is ...considered to be one of the most invasive species. Originally introduced across the world as a biological control agent against crop pests owing to its voracious appetite and hardiness, those same qualities have made
H. axyridis
an invader that is difficult to eradicate.
Harmonia axyridis
has proven resilient against a variety of pathogens that have negative effects on other coccinellids. However, little research has examined the effects of simultaneous infections of multiple natural enemies on
H. axyridis
. Here we present the available information on such double infections on
H. axyridis
, and discuss further research directions in this area.
Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniomycetes) are biotrophic microfungi always attached to the exoskeleton of their arthropod hosts. They do not form hyphae or a mycelium; instead, they undergo ...determinate growth, developing from a two-celled ascospore to form a multicellular thallus.
Hesperomyces virescens
has been reported on over 30 species of ladybirds (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae); in reality, it represents a complex of species, presumably segregated by host genus association. In this study, we report on
Hesperomyces
thalli on
Hyperaspis vinciguerrae
from the Canary Islands and compare them with the
Hesperomyces hyperaspidis
described on
Hyperaspis
sp. from Trinidad. We generated the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the large subunit (LSU) nuclear ribosomal RNA gene, and the minichromosome maintenance complex component 7 (
MCM7
) protein-coding gene. Our phylogenetic reconstruction of
Hesperomyces
based on a concatenated ITS–LSU–
MCM7
dataset revealed
Hesperomyces
sp. ex
Hy. vinciguerrae
as a member of the
He. virescens
species complex distinct from
He. virescens sensu stricto
(s.s.). It also revealed that the
Hesperomyces
sp. ex
Chilocorus bipustulatus
from Algeria is different from
He. virescens
s.s., which is associated with
Chilocorus stigma
from the USA. This suggests that the species of
Hesperomyces
are not solely segregated by host association, but that there is also a biogeographical component involved. Based on these data, we refrained from referring our material from
Hy. vinciguerrae
to
He. hyperaspidis
. Finally, we discuss the usefulness of
MCM7
as a useful marker for species delimitation in
Hesperomyces
.
The aim of this study was to explore the diversity of ectoparasitic fungi (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) that use bat flies (Diptera, Hippoboscoidea) as hosts. Bat flies themselves live as ...ectoparasites on the fur and wing membranes of bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera); hence this is a tripartite parasite system. Here, we collected bats, bat flies, and Laboulbeniales, and conducted phylogenetic analyses of Laboulbeniales to contrast morphology with ribosomal sequence data. Parasitism of bat flies by Laboulbeniales arose at least three times independently, once in the Eastern Hemisphere (Arthrorhynchus) and twice in the Western Hemisphere (Gloeandromyces, Nycteromyces). We hypothesize that the genera Arthrorhynchus and Nycteromyces evolved independently from lineages of ectoparasites of true bugs (Hemiptera). We assessed phylogenetic diversity of the genus Gloeandromyces by considering the LSU rDNA region. Phenotypic plasticity and position‐induced morphological adaptations go hand in hand. Different morphotypes belong to the same phylogenetic species. Two species, G. pageanus and G. streblae, show divergence by host utilization. In our assessment of coevolution, we only observe congruence between the Old World clades of bat flies and Laboulbeniales. The other associations are the result of the roosting ecology of the bat hosts. This study has considerably increased our knowledge about bats and their associated ectoparasites and shown the necessity of including molecular data in Laboulbeniales taxonomy.
In this article, we focus on a fascinating hyperparasitic study system. More specifically, we study the ectoparasitic fungi that are associated with the flies that are bloodsucking ectoparasites of bats (Mammalia and Chiroptera). We make an important contribution to the field by (a) applying new methodologies for DNA extraction (including a whole‐genome amplification step) and PCR amplification, (b) contrasting morphological data with molecular phylogenetic analyses, and (c) presenting a strong case for an integrative taxonomy approach in studying diversity in Laboulbeniales (and other) fungi.
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During fungal surveys between 2012 and 2014 in pine-dominated forests of the western Himalayas in Pakistan, several collections of
Pseudosperma
(Agaricales, Inocybaceae) were made. These were ...documented, based on morphological and molecular data. During this work, three new species came to light, which are here formally described as
Pseudosperma brunneoumbonatum
,
P. pinophilum
and
P. triacicularis
. These species belong in the genus
Pseudosperma fide
Matheny et al. (2019) = Pseudosperma clade
fide
Matheny (2005) =
Inocybe
sect. Rimosae s.s. fideLarsson et al. (2009). Macro- and micro-morphological descriptions, illustrations and molecular phylogenetic reconstructions of the studied taxa are provided. The new species are differentiated from their close relatives by basidiospore size and colouration of basidiomata. Molecular phylogenetic relationships are inferred using ITS (ITS1–5.8S–ITS2), nrLSU and mtSSU sequence data. All three newly-described taxa likely share an ectomycorrhizal association with trees in the genus
Pinus
. In addition, five names are recombined in
Inosperma
,
Mallocybe
and
Pseudosperma
. These are
Inosperma vinaceobrunneum
,
Mallocybe erratum
,
Pseudosperma alboflavellum
,
Pseudosperma friabile
and
Pseudosperma neglectum
.
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