Atradidymella muscivora gen. et sp. nov. (Pleosporales) and its anamorph Phoma muscivora sp. nov.: A new pleomorphic pathogen of boreal bryophytes

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Davey, M.L.
  • Currah, R.S.

• During a survey of bryophilous fungi from boreal and montane habitats, 12 isolates of a hitherto unknown plant pathogenic member of the Pleosporales were recovered from Aulacomnium palustre , Hylocomium splendens , and Polytrichum juniperinum , and described as Atradidymella muscivora gen. et sp. nov. Atradidymella is characterized by minute, unilocular, setose pseudothecia having 2 – 3 wall layers; brown, fusiform, 1-septate ascospores; and a Phoma anamorph. The genus is distinguished from all other pleosporalean genera with brown, fusiform ascospores on the basis of ascospore and pseudothecium morphology and a highly reduced stroma that is localized within a single host cell. Atradidymella muscivora is distinguished by its minute pseudothecia ( < 115 μ m) and ascospores that are slightly allantoid and constricted at the septum with the upper cell often wider than the lower. Its anamorph, Phoma muscivora sp. nov., is morphologically distinguishable from P. herbarum in having smaller conidia. Parsimony analysis of the ITS rDNA region indicates A. muscivora has affi nities to the Phoma-Ascochyta-Didymella clade that is sister to the Phaeosphaeriaceae within the Pleosporales.

• Date created

  2009

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Bryophilous
  • Pleosporales
  • Pathogenesis
  • Stroma development
  • Atradidymella muscivora
  • Phoma herbarum

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3W669B7V

• License

  This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.