Exobasidium darwinii
| Exobasidium darwinii | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Exobasidium darwinii | ||||||||||||
| Piątek & Lutz |
Exobasidium darwinii is a mushroom art family of Nacktbasidienverwandten (Exobasidiaceae) from the order Ustilaginomycotina . It lives as an endoparasite on Vaccinium reticulatum . Symptoms of infection by the fungus are the red color of the leaves, impaired growth and swelling of the stems of infected plants. The species of mushroom is endemic to Hawaii .
features
Macroscopic features
Exobasidium darwinii is initially invisible to the naked eye. Symptoms of the infestation are disturbed growth of young shoots, which often also swell, and the leaves are bright red in color.
Microscopic features
The mycelium of Exobasidium darwinii grows intercellularly and forms suction threads that grow into the host's storage tissue. The three- to four-pore, 20–30 × 3.9–5.6 µm large basidia are long, unseptate and cylindrical. They grow directly from the host epidermis . The cylindrical to banana-shaped spores are hyaline , 11.5–18.5 × 2.5–3.9 µm in size. At first they are unsepted, when ripe they have up to three septa . The conidia are hyaline, bacillus-shaped and 5–10 × 1.5–2.5 μm in size.
distribution
The distribution area of Exobasidum darwinii only includes the type locality on the Hawaiian island of Maui .
ecology
The host plant of Exobasidium darwinii is Vaccinium reticulatum . The fungus feeds on the nutrients present in the storage tissue of the plants, its basidia later break through the leaf surface and release spores. After they have fallen on a suitable substrate, these germinate in germ tubes, from which new mycelium then develops. The species was found in mountainous areas (2000 m altitude) on Haleakala .
swell
- Marcin Piątek, Matthias Lutz, Patti Welton: Exobasidium darwinii, a new Hawaiian species infecting endemic Vaccinium reticulatum in Haleakala National Park . In: Mycological Progress . tape 11 , no. 2 , April 8, 2011, ISSN 1617-416X , p. 361-371 , doi : 10.1007 / s11557-011-0751-4 ( springerlink.com [accessed October 5, 2012]).