Mycobiology  2019;47(1):66-75

doi:10.1080/12298093.2019.1575584

Alternaria yunnanensis sp. nov., a New Alternaria Species Causing Foliage Spot of Rubber Tree in China

Zhi Ying CAI 1 ; Yi Xian LIU ; Yu Ping SHI ; Li Ming DAI ; Lan Lan LI ; Hong Jun MU ; Mei Lin LV ; Xiao Yong LIU

Affiliations

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Keywords

Alternaria yunnanensis; Ascomycota; morphology; multi-loci molecular phylogeny; taxonomy

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

A new species of Alternaria causing leaf spots on the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) in Yunnan, China, was isolated, examined, and illustrated. Morphologically, it belongs to the section Porri of Alternaria, which produces relatively large conidia and a simple or branched, filamentous long beak. It is, however, characterized by conidiophores gradually enlarging near the apex into a clavate conidiogenous cell and long ellipsoid to obclavate, smooth-walled conidia with a long filamentous beak. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on ITS rDNA, GAPDH, and TEF1-alpha sequences demonstrate that the phytopathogen falls in the clade of the section Porri, being most closely related to A. sidae, A. sennae, A. deseriticola, A. cyamopsidis, A. rostellata, A. nitrimali, A. crassa, and A. thunbergiae.