The Phylogeny of Pyxidiophora (Ascomycetes)

最近的研究，包括路易斯安那州立大学的Meredith Blackwell博士的重要贡献，表明昆虫和其他节肢动物传播真菌孢子比以前认为的更普遍。在Blackwell研究的子囊菌中，甲虫（包括松皮甲虫）和螨虫已被证明是孢子运输的关键载体。这些信息和关于这些真菌完整生活史的新知识导致了关于节肢动物相关真菌进化关系的新假设。由于形态特征并不总是有助于评估这些真菌的分类关系和系统发育，很大程度上是因为它们的体积很小，布莱克威尔将在她的进化研究中纳入核糖体基因序列的分子分析数据。关于这些真菌进化的两个一般假设将被研究。(l)与节肢动物有关的包皮子囊菌不是一个单一的自然类群，而是不同进化系的集合，它们汇聚成一个孢子传播的“昆虫运输”系统。(2)真菌是节肢动物的专性寄生虫，其祖先依靠昆虫传播孢子。该研究代表了形态学和生活史调查的传统真菌学技术与现代分子基因组分析方法的开创性结合。

Recent studies, including important contributions by Dr. Meredith Blackwell of Louisiana State University, suggest that dispersal of fungal spores by insects and other arthropods is more common than previously thought. With the ascomycetes studied by Blackwell, beetles (including pine bark beetles) and mites have been shown to be critical vectors of spore transport. This information and new knowledge about the complete life histories of these fungi have led to new hypotheses about the evolutionary relationships of arthropod-associated fungi. Because morphological features have not always been helpful in evaluating the taxonomic relationships and phylogeny of these fungi, in large part because of their very small size, Blackwell will incorporate data from molecular analyses of ribosomal gene sequences in her study of evolution. Two general hypotheses about the evolution of these fungi will be investigated. (l) The perithecial ascomycetes associated with arthropods are not a single natural group but represent an assemblage of different evolutionary lines that have converged upon an "insect-transport" system of spore dispersal. (2) The evolution of fungi that are obligate parasites of arthropods has proceeded from ancestors that relied on insects for spore dispersal. The study represents a pioneering combination of traditional mycological techniques of morphology and life-history investigation along with modern molecular methods of genome analysis.