Six novel species of Fusarium from natural ecosystems in Australia

Six new species of Fusarium associated with soil and plant hosts from ecosystems of minimal anthropogenic disturbance in Australia are described. Fusarium coicis from Coix gasteenii, F. goolgardi from Xanthorrhoea glauca, F. mundagurra from soil and Mangifera indica, F. newnesense from soil, F. tjaetaba from Sorghum interjectum and F. tjaynera from soil, Triodia microstachya, Sorghum interjectum and Sorghum intrans. Morphology and phylogenetic analysis of EF-1α, RPB1 and RPB2 sequence data were used to delineate species boundaries. The new species were phylogenetically dis- tributed in the Fusarium sambucinum, F. fujikuroi ,a nd F. chlamydosporum species complexes, and two novel species complexes. These six new species have particular phylogeo- graphic significance as not only do they provide further insight into the geographic patterns of Fusarium evolution but also challenge current phylogeographic hypotheses.