Rapanea melanophloeos, an important canopy tree in Afromontane forests, is commonly utilised for medicinal bark harvesting. Wounds created from these activities provide entrance for many fungi, including arthropod-associated members of the Ophiostomatales and Microascales (ophiostomatoid fungi). In this study we assessed the diversity of wound-associated Ophiostomatales on storm-damaged R. melanophloeos trees in the Afromontane forests of South Africa. Five species were identified based on micro-morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. These included Ophiostoma stenoceras and four newly described taxa Sporothrix itsvo sp. nov., S. rapaneae sp. nov., S. uta sp. nov. and O. noisomeae sp. nov. Four of these are members of the S. schenckii-O. stenoceras complex (O. stenoceras, S. itsvo sp. nov., S. rapaneae sp. nov., S. uta sp. nov.) while O. noisomeae groups basal in the Ophiostomatales alongside the S. lignivora complex and Graphilbum. In addition to other taxa known from this host, the present study shows that there is a rich, yet still poorly explored, diversity of Ophiostomatales associated with R. melanophloeos in Afromontane forests. More taxa are likely to be discovered with increased research effort. These must be assessed in terms of pathogenicity towards this ecologically and economically important tree.

Department of Botany and Zoology Stellenbosch University Private Bag X1 Stellenbosch 7600 South Africa

Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology Stellenbosch University Private Bag X1 Stellenbosch 7600 South Africa

Department of Genetics Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute University of Pretoria Pretoria 0002 South Africa

Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute University of Pretoria Pretoria 0002 South Africa

DST NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology University of Pretoria Private Bag X20 Hatfield Pretoria 0028 South Africa

Institute of Botany Academy of Sciences 252 43 Průhonice Czech Republic

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