Stagonosporopsis ailanthicola

Stagonosporopsis ailanthicola Manawas., Camporesi & K.D. Hyde, in Tibpromma et al., Fungal Diversity 83: 82 (2017)

Index Fungorum number: IF 552548; Facesofungi number: FoF 2682

            Etymology: Name reflects the host genus Ailanthus.

Holotype: MFLU 16-2678

Saprobic on dead branch of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle. Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Conidiomata 41–74 μm diam. (x̄ = 55 μm, n = 10), scattered, fusing when mature, globose to subglobose. Pycnidial wall multi-layered, comprising 2–3 layers, heavily pigmented, thick-walled, comprising dark brown celled of textura prismatica. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells enteroblastic, solitary, hyaline, smooth-walled. Conidia 3.3–5.9 × 1.7–3.2 μm (x̄ = 4.7 × 2.3 μm, n = 40), aseptate, hyaline, 1-celled, ellipsoid, apex acutely rounded.

            Culture characteristics: Colonies on PDA reach 60–65 mm diam., after 7 days at 25 °C. Floccose aerial mycelium covering the whole colony.

Material examined: ITALY, Forlı`-Cesena (FC) Province, Via Pietro Nenni—Forlı`, on dead branch of Ailanthus altissima (Simaroubaceae), 2 May 2015, Erio Camporesi IT2473, (MFLU 16-2678, holotype); ex-type living culture, MFLUCC 16-1439.

GenBank Numbers: ITS:KY100872, TEF1:KY100874, b-tubulin:KY100878, RPB2:KY100876.

Notes: Stagonosporopsis species are characterized by their unique dimorphic conidia, chlamydospores and conidiomata (De Gruyter and Noordeloos 1992, Chen et al. 2015). Molecular data is important to identify and characterize these species. Combined phylogenetic analysis of LSU, ITS, b-tubulin and RPB2 sequence data places S. ailanthicola within the clade of Stagonosporopsis in the Phoma species complex. Stagonosporopsis ailanthicola differs from S. dorenboschii in having chlamydospores and larger conidia. It forms a sister taxon with S. heliopsidis with 100% bootstrap support and 1.00 Bayesian posterior probability. This is the first host record of Stagonosporopsis species on Ailanthus (Tibpromma et al. 2017).