Scytalidium auriculariicola W. H. Peng, Z. R. Yang bis & Qun Sun

4.Scytalidium auriculariicolaW. H. Peng, Z. R. Yang bis & Qun Sun, FEMS Microbio Lett. 359 (1): 75 (2014) Description and illustration. Peng et al. (2014). Notes. Scytalidium auriculariicola is phylogenetically closely related to S. lignicola and S. philadelphianum (Figs 1, 2). Scytalidium auriculariicola differs from S. lignicola by its larger arthroconidia (5–19 × 2–3 μm in S. auriculariicola vs. 5–8 × 2 µm in S. lignicola) and bigger chlamydospore-like cells (7–11.5 × 5–7.5 μm in S. auriculariicola vs. 7 µm in S. lignicola) (Pesante 1957; Peng et al. 2014). Scytalidium auriculariicola differs from S. philadelphianum in that its chlamydospore-like cells are barrel-shaped to oblong, 7–11.5 × 5–7.5 μm, while those of S. philadelphianum are globose to ellipsoid, 4–6 μm (Pesante 1957; Crous et al. 2022). Furthermore, based on a pairwise comparison of ITS, S. auriculariicola (ex-type YBI- 3) differs from S. lignicola (ex-type UAMH 1502) by 10.1 % (62 / 612 bp, 37 gaps) and from S. philadelphianum (ex-type CPC 40793) by 10.4 % (64 / 612 bp, 36 gaps). Scytalidium auriculariicola is the pathogen causing slippery scar in Auricularia polytricha, posing a significant threat to its cultivation (Peng et al. 2014). Chen et al. (2019) reported the mitochondrial genome characteristics of this species, which contributed to the detection and control of this pathogen. Furthermore, no other studies on this species have been reported.