Cadophora meredithiae and C. interclivum, new species from roots of sedge and spruce in a western Canada subalpine forest

Abstract

ABSTRACTTwo new species of Cadophora are described based on multigene phylogenetic analyses and phenotypic and ecological characters. The species delimitation was based on concordance of gene genealogies. The cultures of the Cadophora species were isolated from the roots of long-beaked sedge and white spruce from a subalpine forest in western Canada; however, they probably have a broader distribution because their internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences have high similarity with a number of GenBank sequences from ecological studies of plant roots. The taxonomy of Cadophora in Leotiomycetes is discussed based on the phylogeny generated in this study. Results from this work will facilitate ecological and evolutionary studies on root-associated fungi.