Fungi isolated mainly from woody plants in the Bonin Islands

Abstract

Four hundred and forty-seven fungal isolates were obtained from ca. 300 specimens of woody plants and some herbs, including their parasites, in the Bonin Islands from 2011 to 2014. Two hundred and eighty-six of the isolates were identified as 124 species and 161 isolates were classified into many genera on the basis of their morphology and the results of a BLASTn search with barcode DNA sequences such as the ITS region of the 18S rRNA gene and the D1/D2 domain of the 28S rRNA gene. Thirty-seven species were new to Japan and 21 species were new to the Bonin Islands. Fifty-seven species were found on 80 new hosts, which included 19 plants endemic to the islands. Although at least 50 other isolates from the endemic hosts were classified into 37 genera, they could not be identified at species level despite the BLASTn search. More studies in detail are needed to identify these isolates, which seemed to be new taxa. Thirteen species new to Japan and a fungus new to the islands, which were isolated from both tropical and subtropical hosts, are known inhabitants of warmer areas of the world. The tropical or subtropical component in the mycobiota of the Bonin Islands was reconfirmed by the present study.