ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 2647
Poster No. = 101


EVOLUTION OF CYTTARIA (CYTTARIALES, ASCOMYCOTA)


K. R. Peterson, D. H. Pfister, and M. J. Donoghue. Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA


Cyttaria species are obligate parasites of Nothofagus (Nothofagaceae), a prominent Gondwanan relict. Eleven Cyttaria species parasitize twelve of the thirty-five extant Nothofagus species. Typically the associations are not one to one: several Cyttaria species may infect one Nothofagus species, one Cyttaria species may infect several Nothofagus species. Still, host specificity is evident. Contrary to hypotheses that predict coevolution between the two, preliminary results, based on existing morphological and molecular datasets for Cyttaria and Nothofagus, respectively, indicate that no cospeciation has occurred. Potential molecular data from Cyttaria may further resolve the nature of the relationship between these taxa. Within this phylogenetic context, hypotheses regarding the biology of Cyttaria are investigated.


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