Alternaria henanensis W. Zhao, Q. Ning, & J.Y. Yan, sp. nov

MycoBank number: MB 558421; Index Fungorum number: IF 558421; Facesoffungi number: FoF 10797;

Description

Asexual morph: Hyphae subhyaline to pale olivaceous, branched, smooth, septate. Conidiophores 25– 95×3.5– 6 μm(x̅ =50.9×4.6 μm,n = 20), solitary, simple, straight, or flexuous, hyaline to pale brown, septate, with a single terminal conidiogenous locus. Conidia 13– 54.5×8– 18 μm(x̅ =30.9×12.3 μm,n = 50), solitary or in branched chains of 3, 1–3 chains from one conidium, straight, clavate to elongated clavate, olivaceous to light brown, with a smooth outer wall, some muriform, usually with 3–7 transverse septa and 0–1 longitudinal septum, rounded apex, stalked or stalkless. Sexual morph: not observed.

Culture characteristics – Colonies on PCA attaining 80 mm diam. after 9–10 days at 25 °C in 12h light and 12h dark, circular, entire-edged, effuse, floccose to woolly, surface pale olivaceous grey near the margin changing to dull green in the centre and reverse olivaceous black in the centre and pale olivaceous grey near the margin.

Material examined: China, Henan Province, Shihe District, from Astragalus sinicus leaf, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, (JZBH 3180070 holotype), living culture = JZB 3180070.

Additional material examined – China, Guizhou Province, from Astragalus sinicus pod, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180071, JZB 3180072, Henan Province, Shihe District, from Vicia villosa pod, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180073, Henan Province, Shihe District, from Astragalus sinicus flower, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180074, Henan Province, Shihe District, from Vicia villosa pod, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180075, Guizhou Province, from Astragalus sinicus flower, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180076, Guangxi Province, Guilin City, from Astragalus sinicus pod, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180077, Henan Province, Shihe District, from Astragalus sinicus leaf, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180078, Guangxi Province, Guilin City, from Astragalus sinicus pod, May 2018, Zhao Wensheng and Zhang Guozhen, living culture = JZB 3180079.

Distribution: China

Notes: During this study, we recovered ten Alternaria isolates from both Astragalus sinicus and Vicia villosa crops and morphologically and phylogenetically they are new species. Multi-marker phylogeny showed that A. henanensis produced a sister clade to A. alternata with a 74% ML support (Fig. 11). Morphological comparison between the ex-type strain of Alternaria henanensis and A. alternata revealed different conidial characters. Alternaria henanensis produced relatively larger conidia (13– 54.5×8– 18 μm) than A. alternata.

Fig. x. Alternaria henanensis (JZBH 3180070, holotype) a. Upper view of the colony on PCA, b. Back view of the colony on PCA, c. Conidiophore, d. Conidial arrangement, e. Conidia. Scale bars: c= 10 µm, d, e= 20 µm.