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Abstract
An undescribed Leptographium species was isolated from the spruce-infesting bark beetle Ips perturbatus collected from felled spruce trees and logs in northern British Columbia and Yukon Territory. Morphologically, this fungus is similar to L. abietinum and L. hughesii but differed in a number of characteristics (e.g. the arrangement of its conidiophores). The fungus grew optimally at 25 C on 2% malt-extract agar and showed a high level of tolerance to cycloheximide. Comparison of rDNA and β-tubulin gene sequences also confirmed that this Leptographium species represents an undescribed taxon. Thus we described it as a new species, Leptographium fruticetum sp. nov.
This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We thank Dr Leland Humble (Natural Resources Canada, Pacific Forestry Centre) for the identification of the bark beetle species. We also thank Mr Rod Garbutt (Natural Resources Canada, Pacific Forestry Centre) and Mike Jull (Aleza Lake Research Forest Society, Prince George, BC, Canada) for their help with the field work and for providing the infested trees.