Uromycladium tepperianum explained

Uromycladium tepperianum is a rust fungus that infects over 100 species of Acacia and related genera including Paraserianthes in Australia, south-east Asia, the south Pacific and New Zealand.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} The acacia gall rust fungus species Uromycladium tepperianum has been introduced to South Africa as a biological control on the invasive Australian shrub Acacia saligna.^[5]

Uromycladium tepperianum is differentiated from other species of Uromycladium by the presence of three one-celled fertile teliospores on the pedicel.^{[6] [7]}

Distribution

The fungus is present in Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, and New Zealand. It was introduced deliberately to South Africa for biological control.

Ecology

The galls of Uromycladium tepperianum have been reported to be used by moths in the families Gracillariidae, Tortricidae, Tineidae, Pyralidae, and Stathmopodidae as food sources and domatium for their larvae in Australia.^[8] Specifically in the family Gracillariidae the species Polysoma eumetalla and Conopomorpha heliopla are found feeding on the surface of various species of acacia rust galls. Erechthias mystacinella and Opogona comptella moth larvae from the family Tineidae have been reported to live and feed on the inside of U. tepperianum galls.

Notes and References

1. Morris, M.J. (1987). Biology of the Acacia gall rust, Uromycladium tepperianum. Plant Pathol. 36: 100–106.
2. Shivas, R.G. (1989). Fungal and bacterial diseases of plants in Western Australia. Jour. Royal Soc. West. Aust. 72:1–62.
3. Walker, J. (1983). Pacific mycogeography: deficiencies and irregularities in the distribution of plant parasitic fungi. Aust. Jour. Bot. Suppl. Ser. 10: 89–136.
4. McKenzie, E.H.C. (1998). Rust fungi of New Zealand – an introduction and list of recorded species. N.Z. Jour. Bot. 36: 233–271.
5. Judith H. Myers, Dawn Bazely (2003). Ecology and Control of Introduced Plants. Cambridge University Press. .
6. McAlpine, D. (1905). A new genus of Uredineae – Uromycladium. Ann. Mycol. 3: 303–322.
7. Doungsa-ard, C., McTaggart, A.R., Geering, A.D.W., Dalisay, T.U., Ray, J. Shivas, R.G. 2015. Uromycladium falcatarium sp. nov., the cause of gall rust on Paraserianthes falcataria in south-east Asia. Australasian Plant Pathol. 44: 25–30. DOI 10.1007/s13313-014-0301-z
8. New, T. R. 1982. Lepidoptera from Uromycladium galls on Acacia. Australian Journal of Zoology 30(2): 357–364.