Curvularia senegalensis (Speg.) Subram., Journal of the Indian Botanical Society. 35(4): 467 (1956)
≡ Brachysporium senegalense Speg., Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural Buenos Aires 26: 133 (1914)
Index Fungorum number: IF 296254; MycoBank number: MB 296254; Facesoffungi number: FoF 13382; Fig. 1
Saprobic on dead panicle of Zea mays. On PDA Hyphae 3–4 μm, septate, branched. Conidiophores up to 219 μm long, micronematous to macronematous, pale brown to dark brown, simple or branched, septate, straight to flexuous, geniculate at the apex. Conidiogenous cells (8–) 9–15(–17)×3–5 μm (x̄ =12×4 μm, n=10), hyaline to pale brown, smooth–walled, terminal or intercalary, monotretic to polytretic. Conidia (17–)18–27(–34)×(7–)9–12(–13)μm (x̄ =22×11 μm, n=30) apical and basal cells hyaline or pale brown, matured conidia brown, straight to curved, sometimes clavate, dark brown septa, 3–4-distoseptate, enlarged middle cells; hila 1–2 μm flat, darkened. Sexual morph: Not observed.
Culture characteristics – Colonies on PDA reaching 73 mm in 7 days at 25 °C, flat with entire margin, grey to olivaceous black centre, abundant aerial mycelium becoming brown towards the edge, reverse black to dark brown, concentric. Colonies on CMA reaching 69 mm in 7 days at 25 °C, flat with entire margin, grey to pale brown, reverse white to pale brown, concentric. Colonies on MEA reaching 83 mm in 7 days at 25 °C, flat with entire margin, dark brown, abundant aerial mycelium becoming grey towards the edge, reverse dark brown to pale brown, concentric.
Material examined – Sri Lanka, Matale District, Palapathwela, N 7° 33′ 22.8″, E 80° 36′ 38.2″, on panicle of Zea mays L. (Poaceae), 08 November 2018, D.S. Manamgoda, USJ-H-031, living culture USJCC-0025.
Distribution: – Australia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Hawaii, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Samoa, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Texas, United States, Virginia and West Indies (Farr and Rossman 2022)
Hosts – Andropogon caricosus, Archontophoenix alexandrae, Bauhinia purpurea, Carya illinoensis, Citrullus vulgaris, Cymbopogon flexuosus, Cynodon dactylon, Dichanthium caricosum, Gmelina arborea, Hevea brasiliensis, Hibiscus cannabinus, Jasminum sambac, Liquidambar macrophylla, Musa nana, Musa × paradisiaca, Oryza sativa, Ougeinia oojeinensis, Paspalum notatum, Paspalum paniculatum, Passiflora edulis, Persea Americana, Pinus caribaea, Pinus khasya, Quercus germana, Saccharum sp., Stigmaphyllon sagraeanum, Tamarindus indica, Thuja orientalis, Urena lobate, Vigna unguiculata, Zea mays (Farr and Rossman 2022)
GenBank numbers – MT410577 (ITS), MZ971268 (GADPH), MZ971254 (tef1)
Notes – Isolate USJCC-0025 is identified as Curvularia senegalensis based on morphology and phylogeny (Fig. 2). The fresh isolate was collected from a dead panicle of Zea mays. Curvularia senegalensis has so far recorded in Sri Lanka only from Hevea brasiliensis (Adikaram and Yakandawala 2020). Moreover, it has only been reported on Zea mays from Brazil, Malaysia and Nigeria. To our knowledge, this is the first record of Curvularia senegalensis on Zea mays from Sri Lanka.
Figure 1 – Curvularia senegalensis (USJCC–0025, new host record) a Host: dead panicle of Zea mays b Seven day old colony on PDA c Seven day old colony on CMA d Seven day old colony on MEA e Conidiophore f Conidia attached to conidiophore g Germinating conidium h, I Conidia Scale bars: e–i=10 μm
Figure 2 –Phylogram generated from parsimony analysis based on combined ITS, gadph and tef1 sequence data of Curvularia. Bootstrap support values of MP and ML≥50% and BYPP≥0.95 are indicated above the nodes. The ex-types are in bold; the new records are highlighted in greenish-blue. The tree is rooted with Bipolaris maydis (CBS137271/C5)