Five novel species of Curvularia (Pleosporales, Pleosporaceae) isolated from turfgrasses

<i>Curvularia</i>, a cosmopolitan fungal genus, occupies various ecological niches, but displays a pronounced tendency to colonise the leaves of plants. In this study, several fungal isolates with similar characteristics in the genus <i>Curvularia</i> were collected from leaf spots of turfgrasses (<i>Cynodon dactylon</i> and <i>Lolium perenne</i>) in Jiangsu Province, China. Based on the morphological characteristics and three locus phylogeny of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genes, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and translation elongation factor-1 alpha (<i>tef1</i>), five new species in <i>Curvularia</i>: <i>C. cynodontis</i>, <i>C. herbicola</i>, <i>C. loliicola</i>, <i>C. nanjingensis</i> and <i>C. xuanwuensis</i>, are described hereby. The present study contributes to the understanding of species diversity, taxonomy and phylogeny of <i>Curvularia</i> species in China.