Stachybotrys musae sp. nov., S. microsporus, and Memnoniella levispora (Stachybotryaceae, Hypocreales) Found on Bananas in China and Thailand

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate saprobic fungal niches of Stachybotryaceae (Hypocreales) associated with leaves of Musa (banana) in China and Thailand. Three hyphomycetous taxa were collected during the dry season of 2018 and 2019. After a careful phenotypic characterization (both macro- and microscopically) and a phylogenetic tree reconstruction using a concatenated sequence dataset of internal transcribed spacer (ITS), calmodulin (cmdA), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2), β-tubulin (tub2), and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1) gene regions, we report three species of Stachybotryaceae. Stachybotrys musae is introduced as a novel taxon from Yunnan, China, while S.microsporus is reported from Chiang Rai Province in Thailand on Musa. In addition, Memnoniella levispora is also reported from China for the first time.