Uredo chathamica
Family
(Order Uredinales), Basidiomycetes
Flora category
Fungi – Native
Distribution
This fungus has been found only in the Chatham Islands. However, one host, Carex trifida, is indigenous to the South Island and the subantarctic islands of New Zealand, and also occurs in Chile and the Falkland Islands. Five specimens of the rust were collected incidentally along with the plant specimens.
Detailed description
Only one kind of spore is produced. These are formed in pustules (uredinia) that are found on both surfaces of the leaves, but are mainly on the lower (abaxial) surface. The pustules, which are surrounded by the ruptured leaf epidermis, are cinnamon-brown and powdery (pulverulent). They are up to 1 mm long or become longer when individual pustules merge into one another. The urediniospores are (28–)33–39(–46) x (24–)26–31(–35) µm, and are globose or broadly ellipsoidal with 3–4 equatorial germ pores. The spore wall is echinulate, (1.5–)2–3.5(–4) µm thick, and golden-brown. There are no four species of rust fungi recorded on Carex in New Zealand, all belonging to the genus Puccinia. Urediniospores of Uredo chathamica differ from those of the four Puccinia spp. in size and number of germ pores.
Fruiting
Found on Carexcollected between December and March.
Substrate
Carex chathamica
Where held
PDD (holotype)
Extant collections
6
Etymology
chathamica: From the Chatham Islands
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