Botryosphaeriaceae from tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) woodland, including descriptions of four new species Katherine TAYLOR, Paul A. BARBER, Giles E. ST J. HARDY, Treena I. BURGESS* Faculty of Sustainability, Environmental and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch 6150, WA, Australia article info Article history: Received 7 May 2008 Received in revised form 30 October 2008 Accepted 13 November 2008 Published online 6 December 2008 Corresponding Editor: Kevin D. Hyde Keywords: Endophytes Molecular taxonomy Natural ecosystem Neofusicoccum australe Phylogenetics abstract Eucalyptus gomphocephala (tuart) is a tree native to the southwest coast of Western Aus- tralia, where, in some areas, there is a significant decline in the health of tuart. Botryos- phaeriaceous taxa have been isolated as endophytes and canker pathogens from numerous hosts in many parts of the world and have been implicated in the decline of E. gomphocephala. In the present study, endophytic fungi were isolated from a wide variety of native woody plant species (Acacia cochlearis, A. rostellifera, Allocasuarina fraseriana, Agonis flexuosa, Banksia grandis, E. gomphocephala, E. marginata and Santalum acuminatum), at two lo- cations in native E. gomphocephala woodland; a site in decline at Yalgorup National Park and a healthy site at Woodman Point Regional Park. Of the 226 isolates obtained, 154 were bo- tryosphaeriaceous taxa, 80 % of which were found to be Neofusicoccum australe, isolated from all hosts at both collection sites. Four new species are described, Dothiorella moneti, Dothiorella santali, Neofusicoccum pennatisporum, and a species belonging to a genus only recently included in the Botryosphaeriaceae, Aplosporella yalgorensis. The other species isolated were Botryosphaeria dothidea on the new hosts A. rostellifera, A. cochlearis and E. marginata and Dichomera eucalypti, on the new host E. marginata. None of the new species formed lesions on excised stems of their host species, E. gomphocephala, or a common plan- tation species, E. globulus. However, Neofusicoccum australe formed lesions on excised stems of E. globulus and E. gomphocephala. ª 2008 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Eucalyptus gomphocephala (tuart) is a magnificent woodland tree endemic to the Swan Coastal Plain, with a natural distri- bution spanning a 400-km strip of land along the southwest coast of Western Australia from Jurien Bay in the north to the Sabina River in the south (Keighery et al. 2002). E. gompho- cephala woodland covered approximately 111 600 hectares in area before the arrival of Europeans; however, less than 30 % of this original area remains largely due to agricultural and ur- ban development (Government of Western Australia 2003) Since the mid-1990s there has also been a noticeable decline in the health and vitality of E. gomphocephala in the Yalgorup region between Mandurah and Preston Beach (Government of Western Australia 2003) and to a lesser extent in other areas. The reasons for this decline are unknown, although many hypotheses have been proposed. An initial reason cited for the decline was that it was part of the natural disease cycle of Botryosphaeria, a fungal genus known to form cankers in woody hosts (Alves et al. 2006; Davison & Tay 1983; Farr et al. 2005; Phillips 1998; Phillips et al. 2006; Shearer et al. 1987; von Arx 1987). Chillcot (1992) hypothesised that, in conjunction with the native canker pathogens Endothia havensis (syn. Holo- cryphia eucalypti) and Cytospora eucalypticola, the introduced * Corresponding author. E-mail address: tburgess@murdoch.edu.au journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mycres mycological research 113 (2009) 337–353 0953-7562/$ – see front matter ª 2008 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mycres.2008.11.010