Morphological and molecular characterization of Colletotrichum boninense sp. nov. from Japan.

Eleven isolates of a species of Colletotrichum were collected from eight plant species (Crinum asiaticum var. sinicum, Passiflora edulis, Cucumis melo, Cymbidium sp., Clivia miniata, Cattleya sp., Prunus mume, and Dendrobium kingianum) at six locations on the Pacific Coast of Japan. Although the fungus had been once identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides sensu lato, it was clearly different from C. gloeosporioides sensu stricto in its wide conidia [l/b ratio: (1.8–) 2–3 (–3.3)], having a hilum-like conidial base and cream- to orange-colored colonies on PDA. The intraspecific DNA homologies of the ITS1 sequence were 96.9%–100%, but interspecifically 80.2%–82.3% with C. gloeosporioides. Based on the morphological and molecular characterization, the fungus is proposed as a new species, Colletotrichum boninense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]