Curvularia reesii Y.P. Tan & R.G. Shivas

Tan, Yu Pei, Crous, Pedro W. & Shivas, Roger G., 2018, Cryptic species of Curvularia in the culture collection of the Queensland Plant Pathology Herbarium, MycoKeys 35, pp. 1-25 : 1

Curvularia reesii Y.P. Tan & R.G. Shivas sp. nov. Fig. 5 A–C

Type.

Australia, Queensland, Brisbane, isolated from air, 22 Jun. 1963, R.G. Rees (holotype BRIP 4358, includes ex-type culture).

Description.

Colonies on PDA approx. 6−7 cm diam. after 7 d at 25 °C, surface funiculose, greenish-grey, velutinous with some aerial mycelium, margin fimbriate. Hyphae hyaline, branched, septate, 3−4 µm in width. Conidiophores erect, straight to flexuous, slightly geniculate towards apex, pale brown to brown, sometimes paler towards the apex, septate, up to 200 µm long, 4−5 µm wide. Conidiogenous cells integrated, terminal or intercalary, with sympodial proliferation, pale brown to brown, smooth, mono- or polytretic, with darkened scars. Conidia ellipsoidal to obclavate, straight, third cell from pore swollen, brown, end cells paler, smooth, (28-) 31-35 (-39) × (10-) 12-13 (-14) µm, mostly 3 septate; hila inconspicuous, sometimes darkened.

Etymology.

Named after Dr Robert (Bob) G. Rees, an Australian plant pathologist, in recognition of his extensive contributions to cereal pathology.

Notes.

The multilocus phylogenetic analyses indicated C. reesii was sister to C. oryzae and C. tuberculata . Curvularia reesii is distinguished in two loci from the ex-type cultures of C. oryzae (98% in gapdh and 99% in tef1α) and C. tuberculata (96% in gapdh and 99% in tef1α). Morphologically, C. reesii has conidia similar in size to C. oryzae (24-40 × 12-22 µm, Sivanesan 1987) and C. tuberculata (23-52 × 13-20 µm, Sivanesan 1987). The isolate of C. reesii examined in this study had become sterile.