Fungal Planet description sheets: 214-280.

Novel species of microfungi described in the present study include the following from South Africa: Cercosporella dolichandrae from Dolichandra unguiscati, Seiridium podocarpi from Podocarpus latifolius, Pseudocercospora parapseudarthriae from Pseudarthria hookeri, Neodevriesia coryneliae from Corynelia uberata on leaves of Afrocarpus falcatus, Ramichloridium eucleae from Euclea undulata and Stachybotrys aloeticola from Aloe sp. (South Africa), as novel member of the Stachybotriaceae fam. nov. Several species were also described from Zambia, and these include Chaetomella zambiensis on unknown Fabaceae, Schizoparme pseudogranati from Terminalia stuhlmannii, Diaporthe isoberliniae from Isoberlinia angolensis, Peyronellaea combreti from Combretum mossambiciensis, Zasmidium rothmanniae and Phaeococcomyces rothmanniae from Rothmannia engleriana, Diaporthe vangueriae from Vangueria infausta and Diaporthe parapterocarpi from Pterocarpus brenanii. Novel species from the Netherlands include: Stagonospora trichophoricola, Keissleriella trichophoricola and Dinemasporium trichophoricola from Trichophorum cespitosum, Phaeosphaeria poae, Keissleriella poagena, Phaeosphaeria poagena, Parastagonospora poagena and Pyrenochaetopsis poae from Poa sp., Septoriella oudemansii from Phragmites australis and Dendryphion europaeum from Hedera helix (Germany) and Heracleum sphondylium (the Netherlands). Novel species from Australia include: Anungitea eucalyptorum from Eucalyptus leaf litter, Beltraniopsis neolitseae and Acrodontium neolitseae from Neolitsea australiensis, Beltraniella endiandrae from Endiandra introrsa, Phaeophleospora parsoniae from Parsonia straminea, Penicillifer martinii from Cynodon dactylon, Ochroconis macrozamiae from Macrozamia leaf litter, Triposporium cycadicola, Circinotrichum cycadis, Cladosporium cycadicola and Acrocalymma cycadis from Cycas spp. Furthermore, Vermiculariopsiella dichapetali is described from Dichapetalum rhodesicum (Botswana), Ophiognomonia acadiensis from Picea rubens (Canada), Setophoma vernoniae from Vernonia polyanthes and Penicillium restingae from soil (Brazil), Pseudolachnella guaviyunis from Myrcianthes pungens (Uruguay) and Pseudocercospora neriicola from Nerium oleander (Italy). Novelties from Spain include: Dendryphiella eucalyptorum from Eucalyptus globulus, Conioscypha minutispora from dead wood, Diplogelasinospora moalensis and Pseudoneurospora canariensis from soil and Inocybe lanatopurpurea from reforested woodland of Pinus spp. Novelties from France include: Kellermania triseptata from Agave angustifolia, Zetiasplozna acaciae from Acacia melanoxylon, Pyrenochaeta pinicola from Pinus sp. and Pseudonectria rusci from Ruscus aculeatus. New species from China include: Dematiocladium celtidicola from Celtis bungeana, Beltrania pseudorhombica, Chaetopsina beijingensis and Toxicocladosporium pini from Pinus spp. and Setophaeosphaeria badalingensis from Hemerocallis fulva. Novel genera of Ascomycetes include Alfaria from Cyperus esculentus (Spain), Rinaldiella from a contaminated human lesion (Georgia), Hyalocladosporiella from Tectona grandis (Brazil), Pseudoacremonium from Saccharum spontaneum and Melnikomyces from leaf litter (Vietnam), Annellosympodiella from Juniperus procera (Ethiopia), Neoceratosperma from Eucalyptus leaves (Thailand), Ramopenidiella from Cycas calcicola (Australia), Cephalotrichiella from air in the Netherlands, Neocamarosporium from Mesembryanthemum sp. and Acervuloseptoria from Ziziphus mucronata (South Africa) and Setophaeosphaeria from Hemerocallis fulva (China). Several novel combinations are also introduced, namely for Phaeosphaeria setosa as Setophaeosphaeria setosa, Phoma heteroderae as Peyronellaea heteroderae and Phyllosticta maydis as Peyronellaea maydis. Morphological and culture characteristics along with ITS DNA barcodes are provided for all taxa.

First Report of Albugo candida Causing White Rust on Lunaria annua in Italy.

Money plant or annual honesty (Lunaria annua L.) is an ornamental landscape plant used in flower beds and borders and also in flower arrangements. It is a biennial plant with large, pointed, oval leaves. Plants of L. annua showing white-to-cream, blister-like lesions on leaves and siliques (2) were found in private gardens where approximately 800 plants of 1,000 (approximately 80 to 90%) that were observed showed symptoms. The disease was also found in two ornamental nurseries, although it was limited to a few mother plants because of extensive fungicide treatments. The gardens and ornamental nurseries were located in Potenza Province (Basilicata Region, southern Italy). Sporangiophores were mostly straight or arched and almost cylindrical with attenuated base and flat or rounded apex and measured 29.2 to 33.4 × 12.8 to 13.4 µm. Sporangia, produced in chains and joined by short connectives, exhibited a spherical or angular shape, were subhyaline, contained vacuoles, and had average maximum and minimum diameters ranging from 15.8 to 18.8 and 14 to 16 µm, respectively. The morphological characteristics closely resembled those reported for Albugo candida (Pers.) Kuntze (3). Sori were collected from naturally and artificially inoculated tissues of L. annua, with the aid of a stereomicroscope, and used to extract genomic DNA via a DNeasy Plant Mini DNA extraction kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer's directions. The extracted DNA was used as a template for amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA with primer pair ITS4/DC6 (1,4) and sequenced. One sequence, GenBank Accession No. GQ328846, matched several sequences of A. candida (Pers). Kuntze (e.g., GenBank Accession Nos. GQ328837, GQ328836, GQ328835, GQ328834, and AF271231), showing 98% identity. Pathogenicity tests were performed and repeated twice. Leaves of 10 healthy seedlings of L. annua were surface cleaned during several washings with distilled water and then spray inoculated with a suspension of 103 sporangia/ml of A. candida. Five healthy seedlings were spray inoculated with the same volume of sterile water and served as controls. Inoculated seedlings were maintained in a moist chamber for 48 h at 20°C before being moved to a shaded glasshouse at 16 to 24°C and 90% relative humidity. White rust symptoms, similar to those observed in natural conditions, appeared on leaves of inoculated seedlings 10 to 14 days later, demonstrating that A. candida was the causal agent of the disease. Control plants remained symptomless. White rust has been reported on L. annua in Europe (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom) and in the northwestern United States (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. candida infecting annual honesty plant in Italy. References: (1) P. Bonants et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 103:345, 1997. (2) D. Choi et al. Mycotaxon 53:261, 1995. (3) D. A. Glawe et al. Online publication. doi:10.1094/PHP-2004-0317-01-HN. Plant Health Progress, 2004. (4) T. J. White et al. Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: PCR Protocols. A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1990.