A new endophytic species, Diaporthe litseae, from medicinal plants in Guizhou Province, China Author Sun, Ya-Ru 0000-0001-5549-1028 Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand; & School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand & Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China yarusun5@gmail.com Author Liu, Ning-Guo 0000-0002-9169-2350 School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang 550025, Guizhou, China liuningguo11@gmail.com Author Al-Otibi, Fatimah O. 0000-0003-3629-5755 Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box 22452, 11495 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia falotibi@ksu.edu.sa Author Hyde, Kevin D. 0000-0002-2191-0762 Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand; & School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand & Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P. O. Box 22452, 11495 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kdhyde3@gmail.com Author Wang, Yong 0000-0003-3831-2117 Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China yongwangbis@aliyun.com Author Jayawardena, Ruvishika S. 0000-0001-7702-4885 Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand; & School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand ruvi.jaya@yahoo.com text Phytotaxa 2024 2024-09-24 665 3 243 252 https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.665.3.6 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.665.3.6 1179-3163 14517258 Diaporthe litseae Y.R. Sun, Yong Wang bis & K.D. Hyde, sp. nov. Index Fungorum number: IF902549; Facesoffungi number: FoF 16399 Etymology: referring to the host genus. Holotype : HGUP 24-0011 Endophytic on healthy leaves of Litsea kobuskiana . Sexual morph : Not observed. Asexual morph : Conidiomata superficial, solitary, scattered on the pine needle in the WA, dark brown to black, globose. Conidiophores 1–2 µm wide, aseptate, cylindrical, straight or sinuous, densely aggregated, terminal. Conidiogenous cells phialidic, cylindrical. Alpha conidia 5–9 × 2–3.5 μm (= 7 × 2.5 μm, n = 40), fusiform, hyaline, aseptate, 4–5-guttulate, both ends obtuse. Beta conidia not observed. Material examined : China , Guizhou Province , Anshun City , Xixiu District , Yaowang Valley Tourism Resort , on heathy leaves of Litsea kobuskiana , 3 August 2022 , Y . R . Sun, MJZY1-1 ( HGUP 24-0011 , holotype ) ; ex-type living culture GUCC 23-0022 ; ibid, on heathy leaves of Litsea kobuskiana , 3 August 2022 , Y . R . Sun, MJZY1 ( HGUP 23- 0008 , living culture GUCC 24-0055 ) . Notes : BLASTn searches of the ITS sequence of Diaporthe litseae resulted in 97.6% similarity with D.citrichinensis (synonym: D. ukurunduensis ) (W2). The BLASTn results of cal and tef1-α are 92.26% and 88.85% similar to D. citri (SICAUCC 22-0129) and D. citri (ZGPF1), respectively. The multi-gene analyses showed D. litseae is close to D. citri and forms a sister clade to the D. citrichinensis species complex ( Fig. 1 ). In morphology, Diaporthe litseae differs from D. citri by its fusiform, 4–5-guttulate, smaller and thinner alpha conidia (7 × 2.5 μm vs . 8.5 × 3.7 μm, L/W: 2.8 vs . 2.3) while the latter has ovate to ellipsoidal, 1–2 guttules alpha conidia ( Udayanga et al. 2014b ; Hongsanan et al. 2023 ). Therefore, we introduce D. litseae as a novel species and not belonging to any species complex following the recent literature ( Jeewon & Hyde 2016 ; Jayawardena et al . 2021 ; Dissanayake et al . 2024 ).