EPA advice for application APP203684 Staff Assessment Report February 2019 APP203684: To determine the new organism status of Morchella importuna Purpose To determine if Morchella importuna is a new organism under section 26 of the HSNO Act Application number APP203684 Application type Statutory determination Applicant L & F Enterprises Limited Date formally received 11 January 2019 1 Executive Summary and Recommendation Application APP203684, submitted by L & F Enterprises Limited, seeks a determination on the new organism status of Morchella importuna. After reviewing all of the available information and completing a literature search concerning the organism, EPA staff recommends that Morchella importuna is not a new organism for the purpose of the HSNO Act based on evidence that this organism has been present in New Zealand since immediately before 29 July, 1998 when the HSNO Act came into effect. 2 Table of Contents Introduction and background ………………………………………………………………….4 Organism description……………………………………………………………………………4 Review of information……………………………………………………………………………5 Recommendation……………………………………………………………………………........6 References……………………………………………………………………………………...….7 Appendix 1: Decision pathway……..…………………………………………………………..8 3 Introduction and background On 6 August 2018, L & F Enterprises Limited applied to the EPA under section 26 of the HSNO Act seeking a determination on the new organism status of Morchella importuna. L & F Enterprises Limited are seeking a status determination for M. importuna as they wish to import specimens of this species from China. The EPA requested comment on the application from the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). MPI did not provide any comments on the application. DOC stated that it was clear M. importuna had established in New Zealand prior to 29 July, 1998. The applicant considers this species not a new organism and to support this claim, the applicant provided evidence to demonstrate that this organism was present in New Zealand. Section 2A(1) of the HSNO Act prescribes that a new organism is, in part, an organism belonging to a species that was not present in New Zealand immediately before 29 July 1998. Organism description Morchella importuna is a species of fungus in the family of Morchellaceae and was first described from North America in 2012. This species produces a fruit body that is 6-20 cm high. The cap is typically 3-15 cm high and measures 2-9 cm wide at its widest point. It is largely conical or egg-shaped and can be easily identified from its exterior pits, 12-20 vertical ridges and numerous transecting horizontal ridges which create a laddered appearance. The ridges are smooth or finely velvety and colored pale to dark grey when young and eventually becoming dark greyish brown to nearly black in age. Fruiting occurs in the spring from March to May (Kuo et al. 2012). As this species is a member of the Morchella elata clade of black morels, it is highly sought after as a choice edible mushroom (Arora, 1986). Morchella importuna can be located in natural and urban settings from gardens, woodchip beds, under trees and planters in urban areas. Morchella importuna is a widespread and genetically variable species that may have been introduced to Europe (O’Donnell et al. 2011). This species is considered transcontinental and has been positively identified across a range of countries such as Turkey (Taskin et al. 2012), Spain, France, Switzerland, British Columbia in Canada, China and California, Washington, Nevada and Oregon in the United States (Kuo et al. 2012). A few isolated reports of M. importuna have also occurred in the Midwestern United States and from eastern North America. Ecologically, M. importuna is a saprobic fungus and is considered to have mycorrhizal tendencies when grown in an environment with trees (Kuo et al. 2012). 4 Review of information Morchella, more commonly known as true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi in the order Pezizales. Species within Morchella are easily identifiable due to their distinctive honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges and pits composing their cap. Historically, this genus has been the source of considerable taxonomical uncertainty as scientists have been unable to agree on the true number of species. Some mycologists believe that Morchella is composed of only a few species but other mycologists argue that there are 70 species based on the molecular phylogenetic evidence. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the number of species, this genus is currently the focus of extensive phylogenetic, biogeographical and taxonomical studies. Taxonomically, Morchella importuna can be considered a fairly new species as it was first described in North America in 2012. The applicant provided evidence supporting M. importuna being present in New Zealand currently and a record of its existence in New Zealand immediately before 29 July, 1998. To support their application, the applicant provided several international studies that elaborated on the complexity of true morels (Morchella) given the phylogenetic similarities. The evidence highlighted that many species of Morchella between Europe and North America are quite similar and that a handful of these species such as Morchella importuna are transcontinental (Richard et al. 2015). This statement is reinforced by Kuo et al. (2012) as the study provides examples of M. importuna isolations, for example: an isolation of M. importuna on bark in Canada from 2010; an isolation under Pyrus (pear) in France in 2012; under Malus (apple) in Ville, France in 2012; in a cellar in Belfort, France in 1994; under Cydonia oblonga (quince) in Spain in 2011; and being incorrectly identified as M. hortensis in Switzerland in 1986. It is important to note that the scientific community cannot conclusively identify how these fungal species have widely dispersed across continents. A few hypotheses offer insights into this such as transoceanic dispersal due to human activities, migration across Beringia1 or long- distance dispersal through natural processes e.g. wind (Du et al. 2012). It is entirely feasible that given the inconsistencies of Morchella taxonomy, M. importuna among other Morchella species may have been previously incorrectly identified (as shown in the 1986 example in Switzerland) and traded around different parts of the world. Given the inaccuracies of the Morchella taxonomic clade, the applicant sought the expertise of Prof. Wei Ping Xiong and Dr. Ian Hall to extract DNA samples using aseptic techniques from Morchella species in the Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Fungal Herbarium. They selected six herbarium samples from the collection and sent the samples to dnature, a diagnostic and research company that specialises in qPCR and high resolution melting analysis 1 Beringia: the land and maritime area between north-east Russia and north-west Canada where historically, it formed a land bridge between the two countries. 5 (HRMA) along with bacterial, yeast and fungal identification. dnature extracted and sequenced the DNA obtained from the Fungal Herbarium and identified Morchella importuna from two of the samples – Landcare Herbarium collection #56515 collected in October 1989 in Auckland and Landcare Herbarium collection #62566 from Auckland, collected in 1992. The DNA sequencing reports positively identified Morchella importuna from these two samples to a 99% genetic sequence identity. Conclusion After completing our assessment of the information that was submitted by the applicant, we consider that M. importuna was present in New Zealand and has been present for a significant period of time (i.e. immediately before 29 July 1998) based on the evidence presented by the applicant and has been present since this date. We can infer from the international evidence in addition to the evidence of isolations from Auckland in 1989 and 1992 that it is likely that M. importuna has dispersed and established a presence in other parts of New Zealand. The scarcity of additional evidence in New Zealand may be attributed to the lack of research undertaken to locate and identify this species. Recommendation Our assessment has found that there is sufficient weight of evidence to show that M. importuna was present in New Zealand prior to 29 July, 1998 and should be deemed as not new for the purpose of the Act. 6 References Arora, D. 1986. Mushrooms demystified: A comprehensive guide to fleshy fungi. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 959. Du, X-H, Zhao, Q., O’Donnell, K., Rooney, A.P. and Yang, Z.L. 2012. Multigene molecular phylogenetics reveals true morels (Morchella) are especially species-rich in China. Fungal Genetics and Biology. 49(6): June 2012. 455-469. Kuo, M., Dewsbury, D.R., O’Donnell, K., Carter, M.C., Rehner, S.A., Moore, J.D., Moncalvo, J.M., Canfield, S.A., Stephenson, S.L., Methven, A.S. and Volk, T.J. 2012. Taxonomic revision of true morels (Morchella) in Canada and the United States. Mycologia. 104(5). 1159-1177. Kuo, M. (2012, October). Morchella importuna. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_importuna.html. O’Donnell, K., Rooney, A.P., Mills, G.L., Kuo, M., Weber, N.S. and Rehner, S.A. 2011. Phylogeny and historical biogeography of true morels (Morchella) reveals an early Cretaceous origin and high continental endemism and provincialism in the Holarctic. Fungal Genetics and Biology. 48. 252-265. Richard, F., Bellanger, J.M., Clowez, P., Hansen, K., O’Donnell, K., Urban, A., Sauve, M., Courtcuisse,