taxonID	type	description	language	source
7A0987FCFFF8FFBAFF57FF5D7389FB8F.taxon	etymology	Etymology: referring to the host genus. Holotype: HGUP 24 - 0011 Endophytic on healthy leaves of Litsea kobuskiana. Sexual morph: Not observed. Asexual morph: Conidiomata superficial, solitary, scattered on the pine needle in the WA, dark brown to black, globose. Conidiophores 1 – 2 µm wide, aseptate, cylindrical, straight or sinuous, densely aggregated, terminal. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, cylindrical. Alpha conidia 5 – 9 × 2 – 3.5 μm (= 7 × 2.5 μm, n = 40), fusiform, hyaline, aseptate, 4 – 5 - guttulate, both ends obtuse. Beta conidia not observed. Material examined: China, Guizhou Province, Anshun City, Xixiu District, Yaowang Valley Tourism Resort, on heathy leaves of Litsea kobuskiana, 3 August 2022, Y. R. Sun, MJZY 1 - 1 (HGUP 24 - 0011, holotype); ex-type living culture GUCC 23 - 0022; ibid, on heathy leaves of Litsea kobuskiana, 3 August 2022, Y. R. Sun, MJZY 1 (HGUP 23 - 0008, living culture GUCC 24 - 0055). Notes: BLASTn searches of the ITS sequence of Diaporthe litseae resulted in 97.6 % similarity with D. citrichinensis (synonym: D. ukurunduensis) (W 2). The BLASTn results of cal and tef 1 - α are 92.26 % and 88.85 % similar to D. citri (SICAUCC 22 - 0129) and D. citri (ZGPF 1), respectively. The multi-gene analyses showed D. litseae is close to D. citri and forms a sister clade to the D. citrichinensis species complex (Fig. 1). In morphology, Diaporthe litseae differs from D. citri by its fusiform, 4 – 5 - guttulate, smaller and thinner alpha conidia (7 × 2.5 μm vs. 8.5 × 3.7 μm, L / W: 2.8 vs. 2.3) while the latter has ovate to ellipsoidal, 1 – 2 guttules alpha conidia (Udayanga et al. 2014 b; Hongsanan et al. 2023). Therefore, we introduce D. litseae as a novel species and not belonging to any species complex following the recent literature (Jeewon & Hyde 2016; Jayawardena et al. 2021; Dissanayake et al. 2024).	en	Sun, Ya-Ru, Liu, Ning-Guo, Al-Otibi, Fatimah O., Hyde, Kevin D., Wang, Yong, Jayawardena, Ruvishika S. (2024): A new endophytic species, Diaporthe litseae, from medicinal plants in Guizhou Province, China. Phytotaxa 665 (3): 243-252, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.665.3.6, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.665.3.6
