Diaporthe eres Nitschke, Pyrenomycetes Germanici 2: 245 (1870)

Saprobic on dead cone of Picea excelsa found on land. Sexual morph Undetermined. Asexual morph Conidiomata 225–400 μm diam. x 235–280 μm high (x = 330 x 255 μm, n = 10), pycnidial, sub-globose to globose, unilocular, black, immersed to sub-immersed, ostiolate, peridium consisting of 3–5 layers of dark brown cells of textura angularis. Conidiophores 5–9 x 1–1.5 μm, hyaline, smooth, cylindrical, straight to sinuous. Conidiogenous cells 0.5–1 μm diam, phialidic, cylindrical, terminal and lateral, with slight taper towards apex. Paraphyses not observed. Alpha conidia 5–6 x 2–3 μm aseptate, hyaline, smooth, guttulate, fusoid to ellipsoid, tapering towards both ends, straight, apex subobtuse. Beta conidia not observed.

Culture characteristics: Colonies white and pale brown on surface, reverse pale brown to black. Aerial mycelium white and brown, feathery, with concentric zonation, margin fimbriate, with visible conidiomata at maturity. Material examined: ITALY, on dead cone of Picea excelsa (Pinaceae), 12 April 2012, Erio Camporesi (MFLU 13-0334), living cultures MFLUCC 12-0351.

Note: Diaporthe eres is an important plant pathogen (Gomes et al. 2013; Udayanga et al. 2014a, b; Dissanayake et al. 2015) and has been reported on various woody hosts (from 121 host genera from 61 host families; https://nt.arsgrin. gov/fungaldatabases). This is the first record of D. eres on Picea excelsa. In our phylogenetic analysis of combined ITS, EF-1a, b-tubulin and CAL sequence data of Diaporthe species , strain MFLUCC 12-0351 grouped together with ex-type strains of D. eres (ex-epitype culture AR5193).

Fig. Diaporthe eres (MFLUCC 12-0351). a Specimen on dead cone of Picea excelsa. b Conidiomata on the host surface. c Longitudinal section of a conidiomata. d–g Longitudinal section of peridium. h–m Conidiogenous cells with developing conidia. n–s Conidiogenous cells with developing conidia stained with lactophenol cotton blue. t Conidia. u Conidia stained with lactophenol cotton blue. v Germinating conidium. w–x Colonies on PDA, w from top,
x from reverse. Scale bars c = 100 μm ; d–g = 50 μm ; h–u = 5 μm ; v = 10 μm.