Pestalotiopsis lushanensis F. Liu & L. Cai

Pestalotiopsis lushanensis F. Liu & L. Cai, Sci. Rep. 7: 9 (2017). Fig. 9 Description. Sexual state not seen. Conidiomata in culture sporodochial, saucer-shaped, scattered or gregarious, superficial to immersed, shining, releasing black conidial masses on the surface. Conidiophores branched, subcylindrical, hyaline to light brown, indistinct, often reduced to conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells cylindrical or ampulliform, hyaline, smooth-walled, solitary to aggregated, (6.5 –) 9–14.5 (– 17.5) × (2 –) 2.5–3.5 (– 4) μm (x ± SD = 11.7 ± 2.6 × 3 ± 0.5 μm). Conidia fusoid, ellipsoid, smooth, slightly constricted at the septa, 4 - septate, (18 –) 20–24 (– 25) × (6 –) 6.5–8 μm (x ± SD = 21.8 ± 2 × 7.3 ± 0.6 μm); apical cell conic with 2–4 tubular apical appendages (mostly four), arising from an apical crest, unbranched, filiform, bent, (7.5 –) 11–17.5 (– 22.5) μm (x ± SD = 14.1 ± 3.2 μm); basal cell obconic with one basal appendage, tubular, centric appendage tubular, unbranched, occasionally swollen at the tip, 3.5–5 (– 5.5) μm (x ± SD = 4.3 ± 0.6 μm) long. Materials examined. CHINA • Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou City, Cangnan County, Dayu Town, 27°22'37"N, 120°36'48"E, on diseased needle of Pinus massoniana, 6 May 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guiyong Cao (culture ZXD 84); • Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou City, Cangnan County, Zaoxi Town, 27°26'6"N, 120°29'40"E, on diseased needle of Pinus massoniana, 6 May 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guiyong Cao (cultures ZXD 120, ZXD 137, ZXD 138); • Zhejiang Province, Jiaxing City, Pinghu County, Jiulongshan Forest Park, 30°36'10"N, 121°08'27"E, on diseased needle of Pinus massoniana, 15 May 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guiyong Cao (culture ZXD 157); • Guangdong Province, Shanwei City, Zhelang Street, 22°47'29"N, 115°32'18"E, on diseased leaves of Pinus massoniana, 27 August 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guoqing Li, Feifei Liu & Runlei Chang (culture ZXD 949); • Guangdong Province, Jiangmen City, Taishan County, Chixi Town, 21°53'10"N, 112°57'0"E, on diseased needle of Pinus massoniana, 28 August 2023, Quanchao Wang, Guoqing Li, Feifei Liu & Yuhua Liang (cultures ZXD 953, ZXD 969). Notes. Pestalotiopsis lushanensis was first reported from Camellia sp. in China (Liu et al. 2017). In addition, this species was discovered on Sarcandra glabra and Podocarpus macrophyllus (Zhang et al. 2021; Zheng et al. 2022). In this study, eight strains were isolated from P. massoniana and clustered together with Pes. lushanensis in the multi-locus phylogenetic tree (Fig. 3). Compared with the description of ex-type isolate CGMCC 3.18160 (Liu et al. 2017), ZXD 969 has shorter apical appendages (7.5–22.5 μm vs. 17–26 μm), while other morphological characteristics are similar. The Pes. lushanensis isolates identified in this study were exclusively isolated from P. massoniana. Notably, this fungal species has also been previously documented on various other pine hosts, including P. armandii, P. elliottii, P. tabuliformis and P. yunnanensis (Jiang et al. 2022 a).