The distribution and host range of Thecaphora melandrii , with first records for Britain
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ISSN: 0075-5974 (print) ISSN: 1874-933X (electronic)
The distribution and host range of Thecaphora melandrii, with first records for Britain Paul A. Smith1 , Matthias Lutz2
& Marcin Piątek3
Summary. Thecaphora melandrii (Syd.) Vánky & M.Lutz infects species in the Caryophyllacaeae forming sori with spore balls in the floral organs. We report new finds from Britain, supported by phylogenetic analysis, that confirm its occurrence on Silene uniflora Roth. We review published and web accessible records and note the relatively few records of this smut, its sparse distribution, confined to Europe but scattered predominantly from central to eastern Europe. Analysis of the rDNA ITS and 28S sequences demonstrates little variability among specimens, even those parasitising different host genera, which suggests that the species has evolved relatively recently. Some Microbotryum species infect the same host plants, and we found two species, M. lagerheimii Denchev and M. silenesinflatae (DC. ex Liro) G.Deml & Oberw., in the same locations as T. melandrii, identified by morphology and molecular phylogenetic analysis. These species may form a stable multi-species community of parasites of Silene uniflora. Key Words. Caryophyllaceae, gall, Glomosporiaceae, Microbotryum, Silene uniflora, smut.
Introduction The Caryophyllaceae is a large family of dicotyledonous plants (Greenberg & Donoghue 2011), and its species are hosts for many plant-parasitic microfungi, among them at least 38 species of smut fungi assigned to the genera Microbotryum Lév. and Thecaphora Fingerh. (Vánky (2012), with additional species in Denchev et al. (2009); Denchev & Denchev (2011); Piątek et al. (2012, 2013); Denchev et al. (2019); Kemler et al. (2020)), which form their sori in the floral organs. Although there are similarities in the appearance of the infections and the affected hosts, these two genera are not closely related; Microbotryum is in the Microbotryaceae within the subphylum Pucciniomycotina, and Thecaphora is the only genus in the Glomosporiaceae within the Ustilaginomycotina. The genus Thecaphora contains plant-parasitic microfungi infecting hosts belonging to a range of dicotyledonous families. The species and their current nomenclature are summarised by Vánky et al. (2008) and Vánky (2012). Recently, three new species were described in Crous et al. (2018), Kruse et al. (2018) and Piątek et al. (in press). Thecaphora species are characterised by having spores in balls (or rarely single), generally without sterile cells, and infections are found in a range of different organs of their host plants. Here we focus on species of Thecaphora infecting hosts in the
Caryophyllaceae, and specifically on T. melandrii (Syd.) Vánky & M.Lutz. Vánky (2012) lists five species of Thecaphora with hosts in this family, all destroying the inner floral organs; most remain within the outer floral envelope (the calyx), but T. alsinearum (Cif.) Vánky & M.Lutz also spreads to the uppermost leaves. Thecaphora melandrii is known to infect Silene latifolia Poir., S. nutans L., S
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