Pilidiella crousii sp. nov. from the northern Western Ghats, India

Abstract

The coelomycete genus Pilidiella (Schizoparmaceae, Diaporthales) was recently revised to include species with hyaline to pale brown conidia in contrast to the dark brown conidia of Coniella. The present paper describes a new species of Pilidiella, P. crousii, based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the ITS nrDNA and its unique conidial morphology. Pilidiella crousii is associated with severe fruit drop of Terminalia chebula (Combretaceae) in natural forests of Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats of India.

Genera of phytopathogenic fungi: GOPHY 1

“… Species Isolates 1 GenBank accession numbers 2 References ITS rpb2 tef1 Con iella africana CBS 114133 T AY339344 KX833421 KX833600 Van Niekerk et al., 2004b , Alvarez et al., 2016 Con. crousii NFCCI 2213 HQ264189 – – Rajeshkumar et al. (2011) Con.…”

Revising theSchizoparmaceae:Coniellaand its synonymsPilidiellaandSchizoparme

“…It was regarded as a Pilidiella species by Van Niekerk et al. (2004) , and the combination was formally published in Rajeshkumar et al. (2011) .…”

“…Since the paper of Van Niekerk et al. (2004) , several additional species have been added to this complex ( Rajeshkumar et al., 2011 , Crous et al., 2012 , Crous et al., 2015b , Crous et al., 2015c , Miranda et al., 2012 ), which revealed intermediate clades between Coniella and Pilidiella s.str .…”

Fungal Planet description sheets: 107–127

“…Notes — The first phylogenetic overview of the genera Coniella and Pilidiella was published by van Niekerk et al (2004) . Since then, several additional species have been added to this complex ( Rajeshkumar et al 2011 , Miranda et al 2012 ). Morphologically P. wangiensis is most similar to Coniella australiensis (conidia 10–14 × 7–11 μm; Pelargonium australe , Australia) ( Sutton 1980 ), but differs in having somewhat smaller conidia (9–13 × 7–10 μm), and having an apical apiculus, which is lacking in C. australiensis .…”