Dothiorella italica Dissanayake, Camporesi & K.D. Hyde, sp. nov., Index Fungorum number: IF553566

Etymology : Referring to the locality where the specimen was collected.

Holotype : MFLU 17-0290.

Saprobic on dead aerial branch of Rosa canina (Rosaceae). Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: Conidiomata up to 680 μm wide, globose, pycnidial, stromatic, solitary, composed of dark brown thick-walled textura angularis. Ostiolate. Ostiole up to 65 μm in height. Conidiogenous cells 8–15 × 3–6 μm, lining the pycnidial cavity, holoblastic, hyaline, subcylindrical. Conidia 28.7–43.2 × 13.2–17.5 μm (35.7 × 15.6 μm, n=20) initially hyaline and aseptate becoming pigmented brown and 1-septate often while still attached to conidiogenous cell, slightly constricted at the septum, ovoid with a broadly rounded apex and truncate base.

Culture characteristics : Colonies on PDA, covering entire petri dishes after 12 d in the dark at 25°C; circular, initially white, after 7 d becoming greyish brown to black; reverse grey to dark grayish green.

Material examined: ITALY. Province of Forlì-Cesena [FC], near Strada San Zeno -Galeata, on dead aerial branch of Rosa canina (Rosaceae), 17 October 2014, Erio Camporesi IT 2179 (MFLU 17-0290, holotype), ex-type living culture MFLUCC 17-0951. Details of studied additional materials are given in Table 1.

Notes: Based on multigene phylogenetic analyses, six isolates of D. italica formed a clade close to D. prunicola A.J.L. Phillips & Abdollahz. The novel species differs from D. prunicola by 16 nucleotides in the concatenated alignment, in which five were distinct in the ITS region and eleven in the TEF region. Morphologically, the length of conidia of D. prunicola are smaller (19–30.5 μm) compared to those of D. italica (28.7–43.2 μm).

FIG 6. Dothiorella italica (MFLU 17-0290). A Conidiomata on host surface; B Cross section of conidioma; C Peridium; D-E Immature and mature conidia attached to conidiogenous cells; G – I Mature 1-septate brown conidia. Scale bars: b, c = 200 μm, d–i = 40 μm.