Addition of A Novel Phytopathogenic Fungi From India

A survey of phytopathogenic fungi was conducted in the campus of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India during 2021. During this survey, we found a novel species namely  Epicoccum indicum on living inflorescence of Chrysopogon zizanioides.  A multigene phylogenetic analysis based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS), partial nuclear ribosomal 28S large subunit (LSU) and partial DNA-directed RNA polymerase II second (rpb2) indicated an independent lineage for this novel fungi.  Morphologically this species was compared with all those species reported on the same host genus. In this study, several fungal strains are recombined. The holotype material of the sample has been deposited in the Ajrekar Mycological Herbarium (AMH), Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, India and the isotype is retained in the Mycological Herbarium of the Department of Botany of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P., India (MH-BHU). Purified ex-type living culture has also been deposited in the National Fungal Culture Collection of India (NFCCI), Pune, India.

Key words: Anamorph, Multigene-phylogeny, Nomenclature, New taxa, Plant pathogen, Systematic