Biodiversity of Trichoderma (Hypocreaceae) in Southern Europe and Macaronesia

Abstract

The first large-scale survey of sexual and asexual Trichoderma morphs collected from plant and fungal materials conducted in Southern Europe and Macaronesia including a few collections from French islands east of Africa yielded more than 650 specimens identified to the species level. Routine sequencing of tef1 revealed a genetic variation among these isolates that exceeds previous experience and ca. 90 species were recognized, of which 74 are named and 17 species newly described. Aphysiostroma stercorarium is combined in Trichoderma. For the first time a sexual morph is described for T. hamatum. The hitherto most complete phylogenetic tree is presented for the entire genus Trichoderma, based on rpb2 sequences. For the first time also a genus-wide phylogenetic tree based on acl1 sequences is shown. Detailed phylogenetic analyses using tef1 sequences are presented in four separate trees representing major clades of Trichoderma. Discussions involve species composition of clades and ecological and biogeographic considerations including distribution of species.