- Proposed
- Under Assessment
- Preliminary Assessed
- Assessed
- DDPublished
Bartalinia mellea F. Anderson & Bianchin.
- Scientific name
- Bartalinia mellea
- Author
- F. Anderson & Bianchin.
- Common names
- IUCN Specialist Group
Cup-fungi, Truffles and Allies- Kingdom
- Fungi
- Phylum
- Ascomycota
- Class
- Sordariomycetes
- Order
- Xylariales
- Family
- Amphisphaeriaceae
- Assessment status
- Published
- Assessment date
- 2023-06-13
- IUCN Red List Category
- DD
- Assessors
- Sánchez, R.
- Reviewers
- Drechsler-Santos, E., Martins da Cunha, K. & Minter, D.
Assessment Notes
Justification
Bartalinia mellea is a fungal species found only once, on the north slope of Cerro Tres Picos (in the south of Buenos Aires province) in 1988. This site is characterized by fragmented patches of natural grassland. The fungus was found on a shrubby plant, Mimosa rocae, which grows in grassland ecosystems over rocky outcrops; and it is suspected that it could be exclusively found with this plant. Despite the host plant being mostly distributed in Uruguay, and also occurring in one state of Brazil, the fungus is believed to be potentially restricted to a dry climate with long periods of insolation and very low temperatures in winter. So, it is suspected that the distribution of the fungus is restrict to the southern mountains of Buenos Aires province of Argentina. These mountains are of low height (up to 1,250 m asl) and the grassland ecosystems are mainly threatened by human activities such as tourist hiking, anthropogenic fire, introduction of invasive species and land use changes, resulting in its decline. There are not many potential sites for the species in the mountain ranges of Buenos Aires province (Argentina); and considering the extinction risk of M. rocae (VU in a national red list) it is parsimonious to assess the fungal species as declining. On the other hand, without clear information on its rate of decline and population size it is not possible to accurately quantify the extinction risk of B. mellea. Therefore, it is assessed as Data Deficient.Geographic range
Bartalinia mellea is a fungal species found exclusively with Mimosa rocae, a plant occurring in the southern mountains of Buenos Aires province (Argentina), Bom Jesus city in (Rio Grande do Sul state) southern Brazil and Uruguay. This plant is found growing between 200 and 700 m asl. B. mellea potentially has a very restricted distribution, hving been found only once on the north slope of Cerro Tres Picos (south of Buenos Aires province) in 1988. This is the southern limit of M. rocae, where it is probably affected by the dry climate in general, long periods of insolation and very low temperatures in winter and the fungus species may be restricted to areas with such conditions in Buenos Aires province.Population and Trends
The species is currently known from one site with only one collection from the southern limit of the host plant. It appears to be a very host-specific fungal species, only found associated with Mimosa rocae (Fabaceae). In these mountains the plant occurs in small patches of 100-200 m2 and although it usually responds positively to livestock grazing, its reproductive strategies make it a plant that cannot expand its distribution area (Long 2018). On the other hand, M. rocae is considered Vulnerable in Buenos Aires province (Delucchi 2006, Alonso et al. 2009, Delucchi and Hernández 2015) and has priority conservation status within the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) of Uruguay.
Although Bartalinia mellea is known from only one site (one of the mountains ranges in the south of Buenos Aires province) it is suspected that its potential distribution is restricted to the mountain ranges, considering the weather conditions of annual rains and temperatures. These mountains are of low height (up to 1,250 m asl) so the grassland ecosystems are mainly threatened by human activities such as tourist hiking, anthropogenic fire, introduction of invasive species and land use changes, resulting in their decline. Also, considering its host's extinction risk (Vulnerable in the national red list) it is parsimonious to assess the species as decreasing. On the other hand, there is no clear information on its rate of decline, and it is not currently possible to accurately estimate the fungus' population size.
Population Trend: decreasing
Habitat and Ecology
Bartalinia mellea was isolated from chlorotic leaves of Mimosa rocae, and further artificial inoculation on healthy leaves has proven that the species can infect and reproduce under suitable conditions. Thus, the species was considered as a pathogen of M. rocae, an opinion also considered by Anderson and Bianchinotti (1996). Additionally, the species is considered specific to M. rocae as different plant taxa were screened for fungal pathogens in the region, and B. mellea was only isolated from M. rocae.M. rocae is a shrub species that grows in grassland ecosystems over rocky outcrops. The plant also occurs in Uruguay and one state of Brazil, but it is expected that the potential area of occurrence of the fungus is restricted to the southern mountains of Buenos Aires province in Argentina. The fungus is expected to occur along its host’s distribution only in the two mountain ranges of Buenos Aires due to the similar conditions of temperatures and annual rainfall found in these areas.
