Puccinia polysora Underwood, Bull. Torrey Bot.

Tabe, Affoussatou, Aime, M. Catherine, Yorou, Nourou Soulemane & Piepenbring, Meike, 2022, New records and data on rust fungi (Pucciniales, Basidiomycota) in Benin, Phytotaxa 548 (2), pp. 127-145 : 137-138

Puccinia polysora Underwood, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 86 (1897)

Figure 9

Uredinia amphigenous, sparse, mostly elongated or oval, 2–3 mm long, subepidermal, erumpent. Urediniospores mostly ellipsoidal to oblong or globose, sometimes broadly ellipsoidal, rarely cylindrical, (23–)28–35(–38) × (18–)21–24(–29) µm (n = 120), brown to golden brown, echinulate, spines 1.5–2 µm long, wall 1–2 µm thick, with 2 or 3 equatorial germ pores. Paraphyses cylindrical, spatula-shaped, or slightly curved, rounded and sometimes thicker at the tip, (33–)40–52(–55) × (5–)6–9(–10) µm (n = 15, width measured in the middle of the paraphyses), hyaline, wall 1–2 µm thick. Telia not observed.

28S rDNA sequences from two specimens of P. polysora collected in Benin share 100% (897/901) sequence identity with a previously published sequence of P. polysora ( GU058024 , Dixon et al. 2010).

Specimens examined: — Uredinia on Zea mays : BENIN. Borgou: Parakou, Atagara, Songhaï center, elev. 372 m, 9°41’ N, 2°69’ E, 2 August 2017, A. Tabé, N.S. Yorou, M. Piepenbring, participants of Summer School 2017, TA401 ( UNIPAR); Borgou: Tchaourou, Wari-Maro , elev. 302 m, 9°07’ N, 2°07’ E, 4 August 2017, A. Tabé, N.S. Yorou, M. Piepenbring, Y. Meswaet, participants of Summer School 2017, TA402 ( UNIPAR), GenBank Acc. no. LSU: OL437034 ; Borgou: N’Dali, elev. 179 m, 9°51’ N, 2°44’ E, 25 August 2017, A. Tabé, Y. Meswaet, TA406 ( UNIPAR); Borgou: Parakou, Nima , elev. 376 m, 9°20’ N, 2°36’ E, 10 October 2017, A. Tabé, TA410 ( UNIPAR), GenBank acc. no. LSU: OL437035 .

Host and distribution in Benin: —Uredinia on Zea mays L. ( Poaceae ), Central and Northern Benin.

Host species:—Primary host species: Tripsacum australe H.C. Cutler & E.S. Anderson , T. dactyloides L., T. laxum Nash , Tripsacum sp. , Zea mays ; Poaceae ( Crouch & Szabo 2011, Hennen et al. 2005). Secondary host species: not known ( Hennen et al. 2005).

Distribution: —Africa [ Ivory Coast, Guinea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Southern Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe ( Riley 1956, Kranz 1964a, b, Peregrine & Siddiqi 1972, Yen 1976 a, Crouch & Szabo 2011), Benin (this study)], Asia, Central America, Europe, North America, Oceania, Southern America, Caribbean (Farr & Rossman 2021).

Comments: — Zea mays can be infected by three species of Pucciniales , common rust ( Puccinia sorghi Schwein. ), southern rust ( P. polysora ), and P. purpurea Cooke. The morphological characteristics of the uredinia and uredinial paraphyses of Benin material are identical with those reported for P. polysora from other countries ( Huguenin 1959, Pavgi 1972, Hennen et al. 2005, Crouch & Szabo 2011, Ramirez-Cabral et al. 2017, Tsatsia & Jackson 2017). Puccinia polysora is reported for the first time for Benin.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Puccinia polysora on Zea mays (TA401). A Epiphyllous uredinia B urediniospores drawn in optical sections except one spore C apical parts of paraphyses. Scale bars: 10 µm.