A new Leptographium species associated with Tomicus piniperda in south-western China

Tomicus species (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) are serious pests of pines with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia and America. In Yunnan, south-western China, T. piniperda has destroyed more than 0.5 million ha of Pinus yunnanensis in the past 15 years. A blue stain fungus belonging to the genus Leptographium is associated with both the shoot-feeding and trunk-attacking stages of the beetle's life cycle. The fungus is morphologically similar to the anamorph of Ophiostoma crassivaginatum and to L. pyrinum, which are both characterised by short robust conidiophores and hyphae covered by a granular layer. Both these species have been isolated from conifers and are associated with insects. After comparing the fungus from T. piniperda with similar Leptographium species, using light and scanning electron microscopy, we concluded that it represents a new taxon, which is described here as L. yunnanense sp. nov