Relatedness of Custingophora olivaceae to Gondwanamyces spp. from Protea spp.

Species of Gondwanamyces are unusual amongst the ophiostomatoid fungi in th at they are associated with the infructescences of Protea in South Africa. These fungi are distinguished from other ophiostomatoid genera by their Kno xdavesia anamorphs. Knoxdavesia spp. are peripherally similar, but distinct from Stachybotrys and Phialocephala. They are, however, morphologically id entical to Custingophora. Custingophora olivaceae, was isolated from compos t in Germany, a niche very different from that associated with fungi from P rotea spp, The similarity of Custingophora and Knoxdavesia is such that the y cannot be distinguished morphologically, The notion that Gondwanamyces mi ght represent a teleomorph for Custingophora is intriguing. To determine wh ether an anamorph-teleomorph connection exists between Knoxdavesia and Cust ingophora, we determined the sequence of approximately 1100 nucleotides fro m the large subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA gene. Results suggest that species of Gondwanamyces and C. olivaceae are phylogenetically related. This, as we ll as their morphological similarity suggests that Gondwanamyces and C. oli vaceae have a shared ancestry. They are, however, sufficiently different th at Gondwanamyces is probably not a teleomorph for Custingophora olivaceae.