Ochraceocephala Voglmayr & Aiello, 2020

Aiello, Dalia, Vitale, Alessandro, Polizzi, Giancarlo & Voglmayr, Hermann, 2020, Ochraceocephala foeniculi gen. et sp. nov., a new pathogen causing crown rot of fennel in Italy, MycoKeys 66, pp. 1-22 : 1

Ochraceocephala Voglmayr & Aiello gen. nov.

Etymology.

referring to the ochraceous conidial capitula of the type species.

Conidiophores erect, variable in shape and branching, from unbranched, loosely to densely branched up to several times; branching commonly irregularly verticillate. Phialides arising singly or in irregular whorls, cylindrical, lageniform or ampulliform, producing basipetal conidial chains. Conidia in chains, unicellular, thick-walled.

Type species.

Ochraceocephala foeniculi Voglmayr & Aiello.

Notes.

Ochraceocephala is phylogenetically closely related to Plenodomus , from which it deviates substantially in morphology. Plenodomus species are characterised by pycnidial phoma-like asexual morphs, and while in two Plenodomus species ( P. chrysanthemi , P. tracheiphilus ) simple hyphomycetous, phialophora-like synanamorphs have been recorded ( Boerema et al. 1994), these are very different from the complex conidiophores of the present fennel pathogen. These morphological differences, the lack of a suitable genus within Leptosphaeriaceae and its phylogenetic position therefore warrants the establishment of a new genus.