A new species of Cytospora (Cytosporaceae, Diaporthales) from Zea mays in Sichuan Province, China

During our ongoing survey of fungal diversity in Sichuan, China, we isolated an unidentified fungus from the stalks of corn. Based on the initial BLAST results of the ITS region, the isolate was preliminarily identified as a species of Cytospora. To clarify its further taxonomic status, we used the act1, rpb2, tef1-α, and tub2 gene regions for phylogenetic analyses, which showed that the isolate forms a sister clade with Cytospora tamaricicola and C. abyssinica. Morphologically, our collection differs from C. tamaricicola and C. abyssinica by having separate locules and relatively shorter conidiogenous cells. Therefore, based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence, we introduce this collection as Cytospora maydis sp. nov.