Cytospora piceae sp. nov. associated with canker disease of Picea crassifolia in China Author Pan, Meng The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Author Zhu, Hai-Yan The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Author Tian, Cheng-Ming The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Author Alvarez, Lourdes V. Department of Biology, College of Science, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Philippines Author Fan, Xin-Lei The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; text Phytotaxa 2018 2018-12-14 383 2 181 196 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.383.2.4 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.383.2.4 1179-3163 Cytospora piceae Fan Fig. 3 MycoBank 828432 Holotype :— China , Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region , Bole Mongol Autonomous Prefecture , 44°46’13.44”N , 81°13’58.72”E , from branches of Picea crassifolia , July 2017 , C.M. Tian & X.L. Fan , holotype CF 20176561, ex-type living culture CFCC 52841. Etymology :—Named after the host genus on which it was collected, Picea . Descriptions :—Asexual state: Conidiomata pycnidial, ostiolated, immersed in bark, scattered, erumpent through the surface of bark when mature. Locules multiple, discoid, circular to ovoid, arranged vesicularly with common walls, (680–)720–1190(–1200) μm (= 945 ± 130 μm, n = 30) in diam. Conceptacle absent. Ectostromatic disc white to light brown, circular, disc dark, (160–)230–290(–310) μm (= 255 ± 36 μm, n = 30) in diam., with one ostiole in the centre of disc. Ostiole conspicuous, circular to ovoid, dark brown to black at the same level as the disc, (65–)70–115(– 130) μm (= 93 ± 17 μm, n = 30) in diam. Conidiophores hyaline, branched at base or not branched, thin walled, filamentous, (12–)13.5–19.5(–20) μm (= 16.5 ± 3 μm, n = 30). Conidiogenous cells enteroblastic, polyphialidic. Conidia hyaline, allantoid, eguttulate, smooth, aseptate, thin-wall, (4.5–)5–5.5(–6) × 1–1.5 μm (= 5.2 ± 0.3 × 1.3 ± 0.1 μm, n = 50). Sexual morph: not observed. FIGURE 1. Phylogram of Cytospora based on ITS gene. MP and ML bootstrap support values above 50 % are shown at the first and second position. Thickened branches represent posterior probabilities above 0.95 from BI. Ex-type strains are in bold. Strains in current study are in blue. FIGURE 1 (Cont.) Culture characteristics : Cultures on PDA are initially white, becoming saffron after one week. The colonies are tight, thin with a uniform texture, lacking aerial mycelium, up to 1.8 cm after four weeks. Sterile. Materials examined: — China , Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region , Bole Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, 44°46’15.32”N , 81°13’57.54”E , from branches of Picea crassifolia , July 2017 , C.M. Tian & X.L. Fan, deposited by X.L. Fan, CF 20176562, living culture CFCC 52842. Notes :— Cytospora piceae is associated with canker disease of Picea crassifolia . The phylogenetic inferences resolved this species as a confused clade in ITS phylogram ( Fig. 1 ), which was closed to Cytospora friesii and C. mougeotii . To clarify this clade, the second analysis indicated this species represented an individual clade with high support value (MP/ML/BI = 100/100/1) based on combined multilocus gene phylogenetic analysis, which was distinguish from other available species ( Fig. 2 ). Morphologically, Cytospora piceae has larger conidia than those of C. friesii (5–5.5 × 1–1.5 vs. 4–5 × 1 μm), and wider than C. mougeotii (5–5.5 × 1–1.5 vs. 5–7 × 0.7–1 μm) ( Saccardo 1884 ). Cytospora piceae is thus here considered as a novel species.