Nectria-related fungi causing dieback and canker diseases in China, with Neothyronectria citri sp. nov. described

Abstract

To clarify phylogenetic relationships amongst Nectria, Neothyronectria and Thyronectria in Nectriaceae, we examined detailed morphological characters and performed phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated dataset, based on the ITS, LSU, tef1 and tub2 DNA sequences of fungal specimens in China. Four species of nectria-related fungi were identified, i.e. Nectria dematiosa, N. pseudotrichia, Neothyronectria citri and Thyronectria pinicola. The newly described species, Neothyronectria citri, is characterised by its ascomatal wall with bright yellow scurf, unitunicate asci, each with 4-spored and ascospores allantoid to short-cylindrical, uniseriate, muriform, hyaline to slightly yellowish-brown. This species has affinities with other one known species of Neothyronectria and can be distinguished by molecular data.