New records of Ascomycota in the northwestern Argentinean Yungas

The Yungas of northwestern Argentina are located at the southern limit of a system of tropical and subtropical cloud montane forests extending on the oriental slope along the Andes in South America. Although they cover only less than 2% of the whole Argentinian surface, these mountain forests harbor over 50% of its biodiversity (flora and fauna) (Brown et al. 2005). All mycological investigations carried out in this region (Spegazzini 1896, 1909; Hladki 1997; Hladki and Romero 2005, 2010; Catania 2001, 2005; Catania and Romero 2009; Catania and Romero 2010; Robledo et al. 2003; Robledo and Rajchenberg 2007) indicate that the fungal diversity of this region is still very poorly known. So far, 755 fungal species have been reported from the southern limit of the Yungas forests in the Tucumán province (Hladki et al. unpublished data). We started an exhaustive survey of two protected areas of the Yungas and their surroundings, the Reserva Experimental Horco Abstract: We report new records for nine species of ascomycetes from the Yungas of northwestern Argentina. Capronia nigerrima, Capronia pulcherrima and Rosellinia dingleyae are new records for South America. Byssosphaeria rhodomphala, Camarops tubulina, Cercophora ambigua, Chaetosphaerella phaeostroma, Tubeufia cylindrothecia are new species for Argentina, and Togninia minima is a new record for the biome. 1 Fundación Miguel Lillo, Laboratorio de Micología. Miguel Lillo 251, San Miguel de Tucumán, 4000 Tucumán, Argentina. 2 Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML. Miguel Lillo 205, San Miguel de Tucumán, 4000 Tucumán, Argentina. 3 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal-CONICET, Laboratorio de Micología, CC 495, CP 5000, Córdoba, Argentina. 4 Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, PRHIDEB-CONICET – Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II, 4to Piso, C1428EHA Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. * Corresponding author. E-mail: mcatania64@gmail.com María C. Gallo 1,2, Gerardo Robledo 3, Andrea I. Romero 4 and Myriam del V. Catania 1* New records of Ascomycota in the northwestern Argentinean Yungas

Molle (hereafter REHM) (65°19′ W, 26°48′ S) and the Parque Sierra de San Javier (hereafter PSSJ) (65°6′-65°20′ W, 26°38′-26°57′ S), located in the Yerba Buena and Tafí Viejo departments, Tucumán province, Argentina ( Figure 1). Both areas are part of the Yungas Phytogeographic region of the Amazonic domain (Cabrera 1976). Robledo and Rajchenberg (2007) have described in detail the Yungas ecosystem. The REHM has an extension of 200 ha; it is characterized by the presence of low hills ( Figure 1) that do not exceed 650 m a.s.l. and is located at the base of the oriental slope of the San Javier Mountains. The climate is humid and temperate, with an annual average temperature of 18ºC and an annual average precipitation of 1330 mm (Richard 2000). The forest is characterized by the presence of an upper canopy dominated mainly by Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan, Blepharocalyx gigantea Lillo, Phoebe porphyria (Griseb.) Mez and Enterolobium contortisiliquum (Vell.) Morong; the lower canopy is formed mainly by Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth and Heliocarpus popayanenses Kunth, whereas the understory is composed of a very diverse community of bushes and herbaceous plants (Podaza et al. 2004). In contrast, the PSSJ covers mainly the upper slopes and the tops of the San Javier Mountains, in the range 650-1850 m a.s.l., the main dominant trees being Blepharocalyx gigantea Lillo, Calycophyllum multiflorum Griseb., Phyllostylon rhamnoides (J. Poiss.) Taub., Tipuana tipu (Benth.) Kuntze and Cinamomun porphyrium (Griseb.) Kosterm. (Brown et al. 2002).
This work lists new records of species of Ascomycota so far not reported from South America, Argentina and/or the Yungas Biome region.
Sampling was carried out during 2010 and 2011. Macroscopic characters were observed under a binocular microscope and free hand sections mounted in KOH 5%, CB, Floxine and Melzer Reagent were studied using light microscopy. Collections are deposited at the Mycological Herbarium of the Fundación Miguel Lillo (LIL) (Thiers 2013). For each species, brief taxonomic and systematic information [basionym (≡); Family and Order] as well as short diagnostic description with notes and known distribution reported in the literature are provided. Species are listed under their telomorphic names; the name of the anamorph is mentioned when the anamorphtelomorph connection is known.
Remarks: Our material fits well with the descriptions by Barr (1984) and Chen and Hsieh (2004), but the asci ( Figure 2C) are shorter in the Argentinian material (100-125 vs 120-150 μm); this hints to a possible difference that should be explored in the future with molecular techniques.
Byssosphaeria rhodomphala has a world-wide distribution and it grows on wood and bark of several tree species; so far, however, the species was not known from Argentina (Farr and Rossman 2013).
Camarops tubulina is included in the Red Book and protected by law in the Czech Republic, where it is found mainly on decaying trunks of Picea and Abies, especially in virgin forests or minimally influenced forests (Holec 2005). Catania and Romero (2005) reported other four species of Camarops on bark and wood of Podocarpus parlatorei from the Argentinian Yungas. Podocarpus parlatorei (Near Threatened, Quiroga and Gardner 2013) is an endemic tree from the eastern-most flanks of the Andes of northwestern Argentina and Bolivia. This tree is much exploited because of its wood, thus all fungal species growing on it run the same risk as the host. Podocarpus is also important for bird nesting and its seeds serve as food for several birds, including the endemic parrot Amazona tucumana Cabanis (Vulnerable, BirdLife International 2012).

Key to Capronia species present in Argentina
Remarks: Our material agrees with the description given by Hilber and Hilber (1979), but it has smaller ascospores (60-73 μm vs. 65-83 μm) and a peridium with Munk pores. Cercophora appalachianensis O. Hilber & R. Hilber, C. californica (Plowr.) N. Lundq. and C. argentina Catania, A. I. Romero, Huhndorf & A. N. Mill. are three other Cercophora species that are known to have Munk pores in the peridial cells (Catania et al. 2011;Hilber et al. 1987). We observed germinating phialides directly from the ascospores as did Hilber and Hilber (1979); this feature has been described in Lasiosphaeria ovina (Pers.: Fr.) Ces. & de Not., L. sorbina (Nyl.) P. Karst.  and C. rubrotuberculata (Miller et al. 2007). Cercophora ambigua (Sacc.) R. Hilber and C. arenicola R. Hilber are very similar species, described as having tuberculate, dark brown to black, setose ascomata (Hilber and Hilber 1979), but differing mainly in ascospore size; C. ambigua has larger ascospores than C. arenicola (60-73 x 5-6 μm vs. 45-70 x 4,5-5,5 μm). Cercophora ambigua was described from wood of Fagus sp. and Carya sp. (Hilber and Hilber 1979), whereas our material was on dead, fallen, undetermined wood. Cercophora ambigua was found next to Bactridium flavum Kunze in the same substrate, in two collections from different sampling sites. This coincidence of simultaneous occurrence may suggest similar environmental requirements of the two taxa; on the other hand, it may also hint to an association of unknown nature. According to McKenzie et al. (2002) C. ambigua is common on fallen wood of a wide range of hosts in New Zealand. In addition to Cercophora ambigua reported herein, Catania et al. (2011) reported new species and other new records of Cercophora from Argentina.
Remarks: The material studied fits well with the description given by Réblová (1999), but it has larger asci and ascospores (200-235 vs. 100-124 μm and 37-42.5 vs. 30-40 μm); in addition, inflated paraphyses were not observed and the asci have a distinct apical ring. Chaetosphaerella species have been associated with Oedemium and Veramycina synanamorphs (Réblová 1999). We only observed a Brachysporiella Bat. anamorph in the studied material.
Chaetosphaerella phaeostroma is a saprobe on bark and decorticated wood of several hosts (Reblová 1999), most of which are not present in the area studied. The wood on which our collection was present could not be identified. According to Reblová (1999) C. phaeostroma is widespread in tropical and temperate regions, thus its presence in this area suggests that it could be found also in other areas of Argentina.
Rosellinia dingleyae was originally described from decorticated wood of Macropiper excelsum (G. Forst.) Miq., an endemic Piperaceae of New Zealand (Petrini 2003). We could not identify the substrate of the present collection. Sir et al. (2012) reported other species of Rosellinia in their study on Xylariaceae species. Recently, Catania and Romero (unpublished data) have collected three species of Rosellinia on Podocarpus parlatorei Pilg. from the Yungas region.
Remarks: Recently, Catania and Romero (2010) reported this species from fallen twigs of Podocarpus parlatorei collected in the southern limit of the Argentine Yungas. This new record has been collected further in the North on undetermined fallen branches (but not Podocarpus).
Togninia minima is known as one of the causal agents of Petri and ESCA diseases on grapevines and has been reported from Vitis vinifera in South Africa (Groenewald et al. 2001;Mostert et al. 2003;Baloyi et al. 2013) and three Prunus species in the Western Cape province of South Africa (Damm et al. 2008), but so far there is no report of these diseases in Argentina.
Tubeufia cylindrothecia is the second species of this genus reported from Argentina; previously, T. cerea was collected by Sánchez and Bianchinotti (2010) from the southern part of the country in Nothofagus forests. The distribution of T. cerea in Argentina is in concordance with the expected distribution in temperate regions of the world for this species (Barr 1980;Cannon 1999). Tubeufia cylindrothecia has been reported from USA (Massachusetts, Texas), but has also been found in Bermuda, Panama, Colombia, Trinidad and Venezuela. These latter locations seem to be similar to the Argentinean Yungas, where the material was found.
So far, 755 fungal species have been reported from the Yungas forests in the Tucumán province (Hladki et al. unpublished data). Most of them, however, belong to the Basidiomycota and are members of different families of Agaricales s.l. (Hladki et al. unpublished data). With regards to the Ascomycota, the current knwoledge is very scant. Hladki and collaborators have also collected fungi belonging to Xylariaceae, the only ascomycetous family that is well-known in this region. Catania ( , 2004 and Catania and Romero (2001, 2005, 2008, 2010a, 2010b) have now provided a good starting point for the study of the diversity of ascomycetes on Podocarpus parlatorei in Argentina. The survey we carried out in these two small protected areas revealed eight new records from Argentina, including first records of Capronia nigerrima, Capronia pulcherrima and Rosellinia dingleyae for the southern hemisphere and confirms that the ascomycetes diversity of the Yungas forests is still far from being known.