What is "raffaelea"

Raffaelea is a genus of ambrosia fungi in the family Ophiostomataceae. It was cirumscribed by mycologists Josef Adolph von Arx and Grégoire L. Hennebert in 1965 with Raffaelea ambrosiae as the type species.

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. Several species also resident in the beetle were described as new to science in 2010: R. ellipticospora, R. fusca, R. subalba, and R. subfusca.