Species of Paramyrothecium that are reported as plant pathogens and cause leaf spot or leaf blight have been reported on many commercial crops worldwide. In 2019, during a survey of fungi causing leaf spots on plants in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces, northern Thailand, 16 isolates from 14 host species across nine plant families were collected. A new species Paramyrothecium vignicola sp. nov. was identified based on morphology and concatenated (ITS, cmdA, rpb2, and tub2) phylogeny. Further, P. breviseta and P. foliicola represented novel geographic records to Thailand, while P. eichhorniae represented a novel host record (Psophocarpus sp., Centrosema sp., Aristolochia sp.). These species were confirmed to be the causal agents of the leaf spot disease through pathogenicity assay. Furthermore, cross pathogenicity tests on Coffea arabica L., Commelina benghalensis L., Glycine max (L.) Merr., and Dieffenbachia seguine (Jacq.) Schott revealed multiple host ranges for these pathogens. Further research is required into the host–pathogen relationship of Paramyrothecium species that cause leaf spot and their management. Biotic and abiotic stresses caused by climate change may affect plant health and disease susceptibility. Hence, proper identification and monitoring of fungal communities in the environment are important to understand emerging diseases and for implementation of disease management strategies.
Fungi in Cercospora and Pseudocercospora are commonly known as cercosporoid fungi. In the current study, a cercosporoid fungus was isolated from Mangifera indica from Chiang Mai, Thailand. The isolate was identifi ed as Pseudocercospora mangiferae sp. nov. based on morphology and ITS, act, tef1-α and rpb2 multigene phylogeny. Further, this is the fi rst report of a Pseudocercospora species on M. indica in Thailand.
Tar spot is a common fungal disease often caused by Phyllachoraceae species, mostly on leaves and also on stems and fruits of a variety of host plant families. We identified a Neophyllachora species from Ficus religiosa leaves in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) showed the taxonomic placement of our taxon within Neophyllachora. The newly obtained sequences recovered as a sister and distinct clade to Neophyllachora fici with high bootstrap support. Our collection mainly differs from N. fici in having septate paraphyses, hyaline to olivaceous ascospores with 1-2 guttules, and mucilaginous sheath. A holomorphic fungus, Neophyllachora religiosa sp. nov. is introduced here based on the evidence from morpho-molecular analyses. The genus and the species are also identified as the first geographical record to Thailand and the first host record to Ficus religiosa. The synopsis table for the existing species of Neophyllachora and the key to the genus is provided.
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