Geosmithia Species Associated With Bark Beetles From China, With the Description of Nine New Species

Fungi of the genus are frequently associated with bark beetles that feed on phloem on various woody hosts. Most studies on were carried out in North and South America and Europe, with only two species being reported from Taiwan, China. This study aimed to investigate the diversity of species in China. Field surveys in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Shanghai, and Yunnan yielded a total of 178 isolates from 12 beetle species. The isolates were grouped based on morphology. The internal transcribed spacer, β-tubulin, and elongation factor 1-α gene regions of the representatives of each group were sequenced. Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on those sequences. In total, 12 species were identified, with three previously described species ( , , and ) and nine new species which are described in this paper as , , , , ( sp. 20), , ( sp. 3 and sp. 23), , and sp. nov. The dominant species obtained in this study were and . This study systematically studied the species in China and made an important contribution to filling in the gaps in our understanding of global species diversity.