Neokirramyces syzygii – Facesoffungi number: FoF 11173

Neokirramyces syzygii Crous, sp. nov.

MycoBank number: MB 832870; Index Fungorum number: IF 832870; Facesoffungi number: FoF 11173;

Etymology. Name refers to the host genus Syzygium from which it was isolated.

Leaf spots amphigenous, angular to subcircular, 2 – 4 mm diam, pale brown with raised dark brown border surrounded by red- purple zone. Conidiomata amphigenous, pycnidial, immersed, globose, brown, 80 –120 µm diam; wall of 3 – 6 layers of brown textura angularis. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells lining the inner cavity, brown, smooth to finely verruculose, ampulliform to subcylindrical, 6 – 8 × 3.5 – 4 µm, proliferating percurrently near apex. Conidia solitary, subcylindrical, prominently curved, guttulate, medium brown, smooth, 3(– 4)-euseptate, apex subobtuse, tapering in basal cell to a truncate hilum, 1.5 – 2 µm diam, (30 –)35 – 45(– 50) × (2.5 –)3 µm.

Culture characteristics — Colonies erumpent, spreading, with sparse aerial mycelium and smooth, lobate margin, reaching 4 mm diam after 2 wk at 25 °C. On MEA, PDA and OA surface and reverse olivaceous grey.

Typus. SOUTH AFRICA, KwaZulu-Natal Province, Richmond, Hela Hela, on leaf spots of Syzygium sp. (Myrtaceae), 2 June 2010, J. Roux, HPC 2521 (holotype CBS H-24247, culture ex-type CPC 36122 = CBS 146050, ITS and LSU sequences GenBank MN562115.1 and MN567623.1).

Notes — Neokirramyces resembles the Kirramyces asexual morph of Teratosphaeria (Teratosphaeriaceae) (Quaedvlieg et al. 2014, Andjic et al. 2019), but is phylogenetically related to Sonderhenia (Mycosphaerellaceae) (Videira et al. 2017, Crous et al. 2019c). Morphologically Neokirramyces is distinct from Sonderhenia in that it has euseptate conidia that are kirramyces-like in morphology.

Based on a megablast search of NCBIs GenBank nucleotide database, the closest hits using the ITS sequence had highest similarity to Pallidocercospora ventilago (strain CPC 21817, GenBank KF777177.1; Identities = 488/528 (92 %), 3 gaps (0 %)), Pallidocercospora crystallina (strain 148B3, GenBank JQ732910.1; Identities = 446/483 (92 %), 2 gaps (0 %)), and Trochophora fasciculata (strain CPC 10282, GenBank FJ839632.1; Identities = 490/531 (92 %), 2 gaps (0 %)). Closest hits using the LSU sequence are Stigmina palmivora (strain VIC 39741, GenBank KF656785.1; Identities = 769/782 (98 %), no gaps), Sonderhenia eucalypticola (as Mycosphaerella walkeri, strain CMW 20333, GenBank DQ267574.1; Identities = 764/782 (98 %), no gaps), and Pallidocercospora irregulariramosa (strain CPC 1362, GenBank GU214441.1; Identities = 762/782 (97 %), no gaps).