Fungi belonging to the genus Cladosporium are cosmopolitan occurring in various substrate or hosts. Cladosporium spp. are responsible for economic losses in numerous agricultural crops, causing leaf spots, scab, postharvest rots and other disease symptoms. The etiology of many diseases associated with these symptoms is still uncertain. The aim of this research was to determine the identity of Cladosporium isolates associated with passionfruit scab and some postharvest rots on different crops in Brazil, based on phylogenetic and morphological analyses. The phylogenetic analyses indicated that all samples belong to the C. cladosporioides complex. Three previously described Cladosporium species were identified: Cladosporium pseudocladosporioides (on kiwi, passionfruit and taro), C. subuliforme (on passionfruit) and C. tenuissimum (on cashew fruit, papaya and passionfruit). In addition, four putative new species were found: Cladosporium passiflorae sp. nov., C. passifloricola sp. nov., Cladosporium sp. 1 and Cladosporium sp. 2, all occurring on passionfruit. This study is the first report of the presence of seven different species of Cladosporium associated with diseased passionfruit. Moreover, this paper represents the first report of C. pseudocladosporioides associated with postharvest rot on kiwi and taro and C. tenuissimum on cashew fruit in Brazil. This study contributes with several taxonomic novelties for the knowledge about the diversity of Cladosporium cladosporioides complex, especially those associated with plant diseases.

In Brazil, the Annonaceae species Annona muricata, A. squamosa, A. cherimola and atemoya (a hybrid of A. cherimola and A. squamosa) are cultivated in several regions, and produce fruits that are highly appreciated by consumers and are of great economic importance. Among the several diseases that can affect these crops, dieback is one of the most important, causing damage and, in the most severe cases, death of the plants. Due to the lack of suitable diagnostic studies up to now, this work aimed to identify the Botryosphaeriaceae species that cause dieback on Annonaceae in Brazil. Based on combined phylogenetic analyses of ITS, TEF‐1α, TUB2 and RPB2, eight species of Botryosphaeriaceae were identified, namely Lasiodiplodia brasiliense, L. crassispora, L. hormozganensis, L. iraniensis, L. pseudotheobromae, L. subglobosa, L. theobromae and Pseudofusicoccum stromaticum. All species found in this study were pathogenic and caused symptoms of necrosis in stems and dieback. Thus, this study confirms species of Botryosphaeriaceae as causal agents of dieback on Annonaceae in Brazil.

African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is considered the most productive oleaginous crop due to its high oil production per hectare. In April 2015, E. guineensis leaves showing elliptical necrotic spots with yellowish halo were observed in a commercial plantation in Moju, Pará state, Brazil. A synematous fungus was consistently observed associated with the necrotic spots. The aim of this study was to identify this fungus associated with E. guineensis in Brazil. Based on morphology and DNA sequence data of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA, the fungus was identified as Helminthosporiella stilbacea. Helmintosporiella stilbacea has been reported associated with leaf spots on E. guineensis in Africa, Ghana, Sudan and Zambia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of H. stilbacea associated with E. guineensis in Brazil.

Ricinus communis plants showing symptoms of root and stem rot were observed in the states of Bahia and Paraíba, Brazil. Based on the morphology and phylogenetic analyses of ITS and TEF-1α combined, the causal agents of the observed symptoms were identified as Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis and L. theobromae, pathogenicity was confirmed by fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report from any part of the world of L. hormozganensis causing root and stem rot in R. communis.

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