Neodidymelliopsis ranunculi

Neodidymelliopsis ranunculi W.J. Li & K.D. Hyde, in Hyde et al., Fungal Diversity 80: 41 (2016)

Index Fungorum number: 552214; Facesofungi number: FoF 02349

Holotype: ITALY, Province of Forlì-Cesena [FC], Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole, near Converselle, on dead stem of Ranunculus sp. (Ranunculaceae), 2 December 2012, E.Camporesi, IT-936 (MFLU 16-1870), ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 13-0490.

Saprobic on dead aerial branches of Bougainvillea spectabilis. Conidiomata visible as round to oval small black dots on the host surface. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Coelomycetous. Conidiomata 120–180 μm high, 30–80 μm diam., pycnidial, solitary, scattered or gregarious, globose to subglobose, semi-immersed to immersed, sometimes erumpent, unilocular, thin-walled, with a single papillate, centrally located ostiole. Pycnidial walls composed 3–4 layers, similarly dense at the apex and base, with ostiole thicker than other parts, outer 1–2 layers dark brown to black, inner 1–2 layers hyaline, with thin-walled cells of textura angularis. Conidiogenous cells 2–4 μm long × 1–2 μm wide, hyaline, phialidic, globose. Conidia 7–9 × 1–3 μm wide (x̄ = 8 × 2.5 µm, n = 20), ellipsoidal to cylindrical, rounded at both ends, hyaline, straight or slightly bent at the middle, aseptate, thin- and smooth-walled, sometimes guttulate.

Material examined: ITALY, Province of Forlì-Cesena [FC], Forli-Via Pietro Nenni, on dead aerial branches of Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd. (Nyctaginaceae), 9 March 2017, E. Camporesii, IT 3329 (MFLU 17-0980), living culture, JZB 380046.

Known host and distribution: Bougainvillea spectabilis, Ranunculus sp. (Italy)                

GenBank Numbers: ITS: MN944410; LSU: MT020377

Note: The isolate JZB 380046 obtained from dead aerial branches of Bougainvillea spectabilis was identified as Neodidymelliopsis ranunculi with support from both morphology and phylogeny. Neodidymelliopsis species have been reported in many economically important host plants like Citrus, Acer, Pinus worldwide (Farr and Rossman 2020). This is the first record of Neodidymelliopsis ranunculi on Bougainvillea spectabilis from Italy.