Morphological and molecular characterization of the two known North American Chlorociboria species and their anamorphs

Abstract

This study confirms that the two known Chlorociboria species from North America correspond to Chlorociboria aeruginascens and Chlorociboria aeruginosa that were originally described from Europe. The anamorphs of these two species are unambiguously identified for the first time: the genetic connection between C. aeruginascens is Dothiorina tulasnei, is here demonstrated for the first time by molecular data, and the anamorph of C. aeruginosa was previously undescribed. These two species are more closely related to different Southern Hemisphere taxa than they are to each other, indicating complex speciation processes in a global geographic context. Pure cultures isolated from the two species were grown on various media for examination of growth rate, sporulation, and xylindein production. The latter is responsible for green staining of wood and has applications in craftsmanship and perhaps also for drug development.

Keywords: Dothiorina tulasnei; ITS; Phylogeny; Wood staining; Xylindein.