Dothidea kunmingensis Y. Gao, Gentekaki E & Monkai 2021, sp. nov.

Dothidea kunmingensis Y. Gao, Gentekaki E & Monkai, sp. nov.

Index Fungorum number: IF558766; Facesoffungi numbers: FoF 09911; FIGURE 2

Etymology: Named after the location, Kunming from where the holotype was collected.

Holotype: HKAS 112234

Saprobic on dead twigs of Jasminum nudiflorum (Oleaceae). Sexual morph: Undetermined. Asexual morph: coelomycetous. Conidiomata 70–115 × 41–74 µm (x̅ = 89 × 57 μm, n = 10), pycnidial, solitary, immersed, globose to subglobose, dark brown to black, unilocular, without an ostiole. Conidiomata wall 10–15 µm thick, 2–3 layered, comprising dark brown to black cells of textura angularis to textura globosa. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells 5–6 × 4–5 µm (x̅ = 5.4 × 4.4 µm, n = 25), enteroblastic, phialidic, single, discrete, determinate, doliiform to ampulliform or subcylindrical, hyaline, arising from conidiomata wall. Conidia 8.5–12.5 × 8–12 µm (x̅ = 9.9 × 9.3 µm, n = 25), one-celled, subglobose to ovoid, hyaline to pale-brown, smooth, thick-walled.

Culture characteristics: Conidia germinating on PDA within 24 h and germ tubes developing from both ends. Colonies on PDA reaching 22 mm in 2 weeks at 25–27 °C, gelatinous, circular, with irregular edge, white to pale yellow from above and reverse, becoming dark in the center after one week. Mycelium superficial to immersed in media, with branched, septate, smooth, hyphae, releasing conidia in a pale brown, slimy, globose, glistening mass. Sporulated after two weeks. Conidiomata, pycnidial, globose, brown, semi-immersed on PDA. Conidiogenous cells 4.7–6.4 × 3.9–4.8 µm (x̅ = 5.5 × 4.6 µm, n = 25), enteroblastic, phialidic, discrete, ampulliform to doliiform, hyaline, smooth-walled, arising from basal stratum. Conidia 4.2–5.1× 2.6–3.5 µm (x̅ = 4.7 × 3.2 µm, n = 25), one-celled, subglobose, ovoid to ellipsoid, hyaline to pale brown, guttulate, smooth, thick-walled.

Material examined: CHINA, Yunnan Province, Kunming Botanical Garden, (25°8.19'N, 102°44.25'E), dead twigs of Jasminum nudiflorum Lindl., 24 August 2020, Ying Gao (HKAS 112234, holotype), ex-type living culture, KUMCC 21-0083.

Note: Phylogeny of a concatenated SSU-LSU-ITS- tub 2- tef 1-α sequence dataset depicts Dothidea kunmingensis as a sister taxon of D. eucalypti with 70 % ML and 1.00 PP statistical support (Fig. 1). Dothidea eucalypti was introduced by Crous et al. (2017b) and isolated from the leaves of Eucalyptus dalrympleana (Myrtaceae) in New South Wales, Australia. Morphologically, Dothidea kunmingensis has comparatively shorter conidia (4.2–5.1 µm) to those of D. eucalypti (7–12 µm; Crous et al. 2017b). Furthermore, the conidia of Dothidea kunmingensis are subglobose to ellipsoid and pale-brown, whereas D. eucalypti has subcylindrical and hyaline conidia (Crous et al. 2017b). Dothidea kunmingensis differs from D. eucalypti in 28/494 bp of ITS (5.7 %, without gaps) and 10/910 bp of LSU (1.1 %, without gaps) confirming that the two are different species (Jeewon & Hyde 2016).