Raffaelea | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Sordariomycetes |
Order: | Ophiostomatales |
Family: | Ophiostomataceae |
Genus: | Raffaelea Arx & Hennebert (1965) |
Type species | |
Raffaelea ambrosiae Arx & Hennebert (1965)
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Raffaelea is a genus of ambrosia fungi in the family Ophiostomataceae. It was circumscribed by mycologists Josef Adolph von Arx and Grégoire L. Hennebert in 1965 with Raffaelea ambrosiae as the type species.[1] The genus is named in honor of Italian botanist Raffaele Ciferri.[1]
Laurel wilt is a disease of redbay (Persea borbonia) caused by Raffaelea lauricola. This fungus, harbored in the mycangium of the redbay ambrosia beetle Xyleborus glabratus, is in the form of a budding yeast in the mycangium and a filamentous fungus in galleries of the beetle.[2] Several species also resident in the beetle were described as new to science in 2010: R. ellipticospora, R. fusca, R. subalba, and R. subfusca.[3]