A ustralia; H. Luo, C rop Protection Branch, D epartm ent o f A griculture and Food W est ern A ustralia, Perth, WA 6983, A ustralia; and R. A. C. Jones, Crop Protection Branch, D epartm ent of A griculture and Food Western A ustralia, Abstract Cox, B. A., Luo, H., and Jones, R. A. C. 2014. Polymyxa graminis isolates from Australia: Identification in wheat roots and soil, molecular charac terization, and wide genetic diversity. Plant Dis. 98:1567-1575.Polymyxa graminis is an obligate parasite of roots and an important vector of viruses that damage cereal crops in different parts of the world. In 2011 and 2012, P. graminis was identified infecting 11 wheat root samples from three widely dispersed locations in southwest Aus tralia. Its presence was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and confirmed by DNA sequencing of the transcribed regions of its ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) and observing sporosori of character istic morphology and size in stained wheat roots. Also, when soil sam ples were collected from two locations where P. graminis was found and wheat bait plants grown in them, P. graminis was detected in their roots by PCR. Ribosomal DNA sequences of six southwest Australian isolates were obtained from wheat roots, and one northeast Australian isolate from barley roots. When these seven P. graminis sequences were compared with others from GenBank by phylogenetic analysis, three southwest Australian isolates were classified as P graminis f. sp. temperata (ribotypes la and lb), and three as f. sp. tepida (ribotypes Ila and lib). P graminis f. sp. temperata and tepida both occur in Corresponding author: R. A. C. Jones,