Addition Of Two 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 two novel species namely Cercospora palmata on living leaves of Diplocyclos palmatus and Pseudocercospora trifoliorum on living leaves of Grona triflora. 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 these novel fungi.  Morphologically these species were compared with all those species reported on the same host genus. In this study, several fungal strains are recombined. The holotype materials of these samples have been deposited in the Ajrekar Mycological Herbarium (AMH), Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, India and isotypes are retained in the Mycological Herbarium of the Department of Botany of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P., India (MH-BHU). Purified ex-type living cultures have 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