Ascocoma eucalypti (anamorph: Coma circularis), confirmation of the elusive microconidial state

Abstract

A microconidial state was described in 1972 from the type specimen of the coelomycete Coma circularis, a foliar pathogen of several eucalypts including Eucalyptus pauciflora and of Kunzea ericoides (all Myrtaceae). Subsequently, several mycologists independently concluded that the reported microconidia probably belonged to an extraneous fungus. Discovery of the same microconidial state on freshly collected leaves of E. pauciflora and two early specimens of another eucalypt (probably E. cypellocarpa) confirms the original report.