Curvularia coatesiae Y.P. Tan & R.G. Shivas

Tan, Yu Pei, Crous, Pedro W. & Shivas, Roger G., 2018, Cryptic species of Curvularia in the culture collection of the Queensland Plant Pathology Herbarium, MycoKeys 35, pp. 1-25 : 1

Curvularia coatesiae Y.P. Tan & R.G. Shivas sp. nov. Fig. 2 M–O

Type.

Australia, Queensland, Eudlo, from rotted fruit of Litchi chinensis , 28 Jan. 1992, L.M. Coates (holotype BRIP 24261, includes ex-type culture).

Description.

Colonies on PDA 6-7 cm diam. after 7 d at 25 °C, surface funiculose, floccose, olivaceous black at the centre, olivaceous to grey olivaceous towards the edge, margin fimbriate. Hyphae subhyaline, smooth to asperulate, septate, up to 3 µm in width. Conidiophores erect, flexuous, geniculate in the top half, uniformly brown, sometimes pale towards apex, septate, up to 190 µm long, 4 µm wide; basal cell sometimes swollen, up to 8 µm diam. Conidiogenous cells integrated, terminal or intercalary, with sympodial proliferation, pale brown, mono- or polytretic, with darkened nodes. Conidia ellipsoidal to obovoid, asymmetrical, sometimes the third cell from base is unequally enlarged, intermediate cells dark brown and usually verruculose, end cells paler and less ornamented than central cells, (20-) 23-26 (-30) × (7-) 8-9 (-10) µm, 3-distoseptate; hila protuberant, thickened and darkened, 1-2 µm wide.

Etymology.

Named after Dr Lindel (Lindy) M. Coates, an Australian plant pathologist in recognition of her contributions to the study of post-harvest fruit pathology.

Additional material examined.

Australia, New South Wales, Alstonville, isolated from the air in a mango orchard, 11 Mar. 1991, G.I. Johnson, BRIP 24170 (includes culture).

Notes.

Curvularia coatesiae is morphologically similar and phylogenetically related to a reference culture of C. borreriae and the ex-type culture of C. pallescens (Fig. 1). Curvularia coatesiae differs from the ex-type culture of C. pallescens in three loci: ITS position 439 (T); gapdh positions 219 (C), 287 (C); tef1α positions 43 (C), 257 (C), 259 (C). Although C. borreriae and C. pallescens have been recorded in Australia, these have not been verified by molecular phylogenetic analyses and there have been no additional records beyond the 1980s ( Sivanesan 1987, Shivas 1989). Other species recorded from L. chinensis are C. geniculata , C. hawaiiensis , C. lunata and C. pallescens ( DAF Biological Collections 2018, Herbarium Catalogue 2018), although not all the reports have been verified by molecular phylogenetic analyses.