Ceratocystis wilt is among the most important diseases on mango (Mangifera indica) in Brazil, Oman, and Pakistan. The causal agent was originally identified in Brazil as Ceratocystis fimbriata, which is considered by some as a complex of many cryptic species, and four new species on mango trees were distinguished from C. fimbriata based on variation in internal transcribed spacer sequences. In the present study, phylogenetic analyses using DNA sequences of mating type genes, TEF-1α, and β-tubulin failed to identify lineages corresponding to the four new species names. Further, mating experiments found that the mango isolates representing the new species were interfertile with each other and a tester strain from sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), on which the name C. fimbriata is based, and there was little morphological variation among the mango isolates. Microsatellite markers found substantial differentiation among mango isolates at the regional and population levels, but certain microsatellite genotypes were commonly found in multiple populations, suggesting that these genotypes had been disseminated in infected nursery stock. The most common microsatellite genotypes corresponded to the four recently named species (C. manginecans, C. acaciivora, C. mangicola, and C. mangivora), which are considered synonyms of C. fimbriata. This study points to the potential problems of naming new species based on introduced genotypes of a pathogen, the value of an understanding of natural variation within and among populations, and the importance of phenotype in delimiting species.

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Cowpea is a legume of great importance in the Brazilian nutrition, mainly in the Northeast region. Despite the low yield of Brazilian cowpea, the species presents a genetic potential to be explored. Thus, this work aimed to characterize the genetic diversity of cowpea genotypes by agronomic traits and select genotypes for possible crosses by multivariate analysis. Four value for cultivation and use tests were carried out with cowpea genotypes in 2005 and 2006, in the municipalities of Aquidauana, Chapadão do Sul, and Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The experimental design was a complete randomized block with 20 genotypes and four replications. The evaluated traits were value for cultivation, plant lodging, pod length, grain weight of five pods, number of grains per pod, pod weight, severity of powdery mildew, and grain yield. To estimate the genetic diversity among the genotypes, the optimization methods of Tocher and UPGMA were used. The generalized distance of Mahalanobis was used as a dissimilarity measure. The clustering methods revealed genetic variability among the cowpea genotypes evaluated. The methods used formed a different number of groups for each environment. Genotypes TE97-309G-24, MNC99-542F-5, BRS Paraguaçu, BRS Paraguaçu, BR 17-Gurguéia, and CNC x 409-11F-P2 can be used to obtain promising combinations and high genetic variability.