ELYTRODERMA Darker. Rhytismataceae. 1 Ukrainian species on Pinus.

Elytroderma torres-juanii Diam. & Minter [click here for picture]. Status. Probably native; 4 records since 30 May 1993; extremely local, known from only one small group of five trees. Months. May, June, September. Regions. Crimea. Habitat. Pinus stankewiczii, Pinus thunbergiana; on dead portions of otherwise living needles. Notes. As this is the first report of this fungus from Ukraine, apart from a brief entry in Minter & Dudka (1996), the following detailed notes made on 4 June 1993, when the site was discovered, are provided: colonized trees showed significant discoloration up to 3 m, above which the fungus was not detected; shaded trees showed more defoliation, though it was not clear that this was entirely connected with colonization by Elytroderma torres-juanii, and defoliation was not noticeably greater in any single direction; the flush on colonized branches seemed to have occurred later than for other surrounding pines, and sometimes the whole shoot was dead; where the shoot was not dead, the flush had scarcely begun, green needles were not yet protruding from their sheaths, and the long shoots were less than 3 cm long; the 1991 flush had what looked like old ascomata on brownish areas of needles with some portions remaining green; the 1990 flush had mostly fallen, but where still attached, had old ascomata on greyish, totally dead needles; the 1992 flush had discoloured regions of otherwise green needles, but no ascomata, and the discolouration was mostly at the tips; on the lower colonized branches, more than 50% of the 1992 flush was affected; needles with ascomata were looked for, but not found in the litter, though Lophodermium pinastri and Cyclaneusma minus were present; the fungus was still present at the site when examined in September 1996. Worldwide. Known on various pines from parts of Europe with a mediterranean climate; the record on Pinus thunbergiana from Ukraine is surprising, as all other records of this species are on native pines. References. Diamandis & Minter (1980) [description]; Minter & Dudka (1996) [Ukrainian records].