Alternaria zeae H. F. Liu & J. X. Deng, 2025

Alternaria zeae H. F. Liu & J. X. Deng sp. nov.

Fig. 4 View Figure 4

Etymology.

Name refers to its host Zea mays .

Type.

China • Guangxi Province, Liuzhou City , diseased leaves of Zea mays , September 2023, F. Y Liu, holotype YZU-H-2023150 A (permanently preserved in a metabolically inactive state), ex-type culture YZU 231602 About YZU .

Description.

Colonies on PDA round, fluffy, cottony, greenish-gray, white at the margin, reverse side pale yellow, 58–59 mm in diameter (Fig. 4 a View Figure 4 ). The conidial morphology on PDA and PCA was similar, with only slight differences. On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, unbranched, 25–123 × 2.5–4.5 μm, with 1–8 septa (Fig. 4 d View Figure 4 ). Conidia borne singly or in chain with 2–4 conidia per chain, ovate, ellipsoid or obclavate, with 3–6 transverse septa, 26–46 × 10–18 μm in size, mostly with septate apical beak, 9–93 × 2.5–4 μm in size (Fig. 4 b, e View Figure 4 ). On V 8 A, conidiophores straight or curved, unbranched, 38–118 × 2.5–4 μm, with 1–7 septa. Conidiogenous cells 5–14 × 3–5 μm, integrated, apical, cylindrical, light brown, smooth, apically doliiform, with 1 conidiogenous locus. Conidia solitary or produced in chain with 2–4 conidia, ovate, ellipsoid or obclavate, with 3–6 transverse septa, 26–45 × 10–17 μm, apical beak 4.5–65 × 2.5–4 μm, with 0–4 septa (Fig. 4 c, f View Figure 4 ).

Additional isolates examined.

China • Guangxi Province, Liuzhou City , diseased leaves of Zea mays , September 2023, F. Y. Liu, living culture YZU 231638 About YZU and YZU 231640 About YZU .

Notes.

Strains of Alternaria zeae ( YZU 231602 , YZU 231638 and YZU 231640 ) formed a distinct clade in the multi-locus phylogenetic analysis. Alternaria poae and A. burnsii were genetically close to A. zeae . In nucleotide sequences, A. zeae differs from A. poae at five loci: 3 bp in GAPDH with 1 gap, 5 bp differences in RPB 2, 3 bp in TEF 1, 3 bp in Alt a 1, and 7 bp in OPA 10-2. Nucleotide sequence differences were also observed between A. zeae and A. burnsii (3 bp in GAPDH with 1 gap, 2 bp in RPB 2, 1 bp in Alt a 1, and 1 bp in OPA 10-2). Morphologically, A. zeae has obviously longer beak than A. poae and A. burnsii (Table 2 View Table 2 ). In addition, conidia bodies of A. zeae are also wider than those of A. burnsii ( Simmons 2007) .