Additions to the genus Cytospora with sexual morph in Cytosporaceae

Abstract

Cytospora species are important pathogens, which have a worldwide distribution, broad host range and are commonly associated with tree dieback and canker disease. Lack of ex-type cultures or inability to link multi-gene DNA sequence data in GenBank to phylogenetic analyses makes it difficult to classify Cytospora taxa to species level. In this study, ten specimens of Cytospora were collected from dead wood in China, Italy and Thailand. Based on their morphology and phylogenetic characterization, four new species (C. diopuiensis, C. galegicola, C. pingbianensis and C. pubescentis) and four known species (C. cedri, C. cotini, C. predappioensis and C. prunicola) are herein described, illustrated and compared with related taxa. Detailed morphological descriptions of the holomorph (C. galegicola, C. prunicola, C. predappioensis and C. pubescentis), the sexual morph (C. cedri, C. cotini, C. diopuiensis and C. pingbianensis) and a new record of C. predappioensis in China are provided. Phylogenetic analyses of a combined ITS, LSU, ACT and RPB2 DNA sequence dataset support their placement in the genus Cytospora and justify the new species and identification of known species.