Neopestalotiopsis sp. 2

Fallahi, Maryam, Armand, Alireza, Al-Otibi, Fatimah, Hyde, Kevin D. & Jayawardena, Ruvishika S., 2025, Pathogenic fungi (Sordariomycetes) associated with annual and perennial crops in Northern Thailand, MycoKeys 117, pp. 191-265 : 191-265

Neopestalotiopsis sp. 2

Fig. 33

Description.

Pathogenic to mangosteen ( Garcinia mangostana ), causes dark, sunken lesions on the fruit surface, often starting near wounds or natural openings. Sexual morph not observed. Conidiomata acervular on PDA, solitary or aggregated, immersed or semi-immersed in agar medium, containing dark mass of conidia. Conidiophores reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells ampulliform to lageniform, and hyaline, 3–8 × 2–5 μm. Conidia fusiform, 4 - septate, straight or slightly curved, 17–26 × 3.5–6.7 μm (mean = 21 × 5 μm, n = 40); basal cell conic, hyaline, 3–5.4 μm long; three median cells 12–18 μm long, brown to dark brown, septa darker than the rest of the cell; second cell from base brown, 3.5–6 μm long; third cell dark brown, 3–6 μm long; fourth cell darker, 2.7–6.5 μm long; apical cell 2.7–5.4 μm long, conic, hyaline, smooth-walled, with 2–3 (mostly 3) tubular apical appendages, 5.5–20 μm long. Basal appendage single, unbranched, tubular, centric, 3.9–8 μm long.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies on PDA reach 40–50 mm in diameter after 7 days of growth at 25 ° C under 12 h daylight, cottony, with an irregular shape, edge undulate, aerial mycelium on the surface. Upper view white and the reverse primrose. Yellow pigment and black fruiting bodies appear with age.

Material examined.

Thailand • Chiang Rai Province, Mueang Chiang Rai District, Ban Du , the fruit of mangosteen ( Garcinia mangostana ), June 2023, Maryam Fallahi, dried culture L 3-4 ( MFLU 24-0260 ), living culture MFLUCC 24-0255 .

Notes.

Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS, tef 1, and tub 2 sequence data revealed that strain MFLUCC 24-0255 from the present study forms an independent subclade close to strains and type material of Neopestalotiopsis clavispora , N. cavernicola , and strain MFLUCC 24-0251 with no bootstrap support (Fig. 28 ); hence, we keep it as an unidentified species, Neopestalotiopsis sp. 2 , until more collections become available. The base pair differences between Neopestalotiopsis sp. 2 ( MFLUCC 24-0255 ), N. clavispora ( MFUCC 12-0281 ), N. cavernicola ( KUMCC 20-0269 , ex-type), and Neopestalotiopsis sp. 3 ( MFLUCC 24-0251 ) are presented in Table 5 . Based on asexual morph and morphology (Table 7 ), Neopestalotiopsis sp. 2 ( MFLUCC 24-0255 ) is different from the two well-known species mentioned above ( Liu et al. 2021, Maharachchikumbura et al. 2012) as well as from Neopestalotiopsis sp. 3 ( MFLUCC 24-0251 ).

Figures

Figure 28. Phylogenetic tree of the Neopestalotiopsis ssp. generated by Bayes analysis of combined ITS, tef 1, and tub 2 sequence data. The ultrafast maximum likelihood (ML) bootstrap support values ≥ 50 % (BT) and Bayesian posterior probabilities ≥ 0.95 (BYPP) are shown, respectively, near the nodes. The ex-type strains are marked with an asterisk. The tree is rooted in Pestalotiopsis spathulate (CBS 356 86) and Pestalotiopsis diversiseta (MFLUCC 12 0287).

Figure 33. Neopestalotiopsis sp. 2 (MFLUCC 24-0255) a fruit rot on mangosteen b front, and c back views of the colony on PDA after 7 days d front and e back view of the colony on PDA after 60 days at 25 ° C f conidiomata g – i conidiophore and conidiogenous cells j – n conidia. Scale bars: 10 μm.