Abstract
Ambrosia beetles are small wood inhabiting members of the Curculionidae that have evolved obligate symbioses with fungi. The fungal symbionts concentrate nutrients from within infested trees into a usable form for their beetle partners, which then utilize the fungi as their primary source of nutrition. Ambrosia beetle species associate with one or more primary symbiotic fungal species, but they also vector auxiliary symbionts, which may provide the beetle with developmental or ecological advantages. In this study we isolated and identified ophiostomatalean fungi associated with ambrosia beetles occurring in a native forest area in South Africa. Using a modified Bambara beetle trap, living ambrosia beetle specimens were collected and their fungal symbionts isolated. Four beetle species, three Scolytinae and one Bostrichidae, were collected. Five species of ophiostomatalean fungi were isolated from the beetles and were identified using both morphological characters and DNA sequence data. One of these species, Raffaelea sulphurea, was recorded from South Africa for the first time and two novel species were described as Ceratocystiopsis lunata sp. nov. and Raffaelea promiscua sp. nov.
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Data availabity
All sequence data produced in the study have been made publicly available. All cultures have been deposited in accessible culture collections. Data sets generated and analysed in this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Johan de Graaf, Mr. Marinus Gieselbach and the other members of Hans Merensky Holdings for allowing collections to be made on their land and for support in field. We thank Miss Kira Lynn for assistance in proof reading of the first draft of the manuscript.
Funding
This study was funded by the University of Pretoria, members of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP), the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.
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Nel, W.J., Wingfield, M.J., de Beer, Z.W. et al. Ophiostomatalean fungi associated with wood boring beetles in South Africa including two new species. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 114, 667–686 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-021-01548-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-021-01548-0