''Xenodevriesia strelitziicola'' is a

pathogenic In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

fungus in the

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

Dothideomycetes Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not par ...

that infects the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n plant ''

Strelitzia ''Strelitzia'' is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae. The genus is named after Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom, who was born a princess of the house of Meckle ...

''. It is the only species of the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Xenodevriesia'' and

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Xenodevriesiaceae.

Morphology and reproduction

''Xenodevriesia''

mycelium Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrate (biology), substrates. A typical single ...

consists of medium brown, smooth, septate, branched

hyphae A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

. The

conidiophores A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an Asexual reproduction, asexual, non-motility, motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are al ...

are dimorphic: there are microconidiophores and macroconidiophores. :The microconidiophores are reduced to conidiogenous cells (i.e. capable of generating

conidia A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...

) on hyphae that are erect, cylindrical, medium brown in color, smooth, with truncated ends and proliferating sympodially. The conidiogenous cells appear at terminal or lateral locations on top of branched conidiophores; they are also medium brown in color, smooth and cylindrical, and also grow sympodially. :The macroconidiophores are erect, cylindrical, between straight and sinuous in shape, medium brown in color, smooth, and unbranched or branched only above. The

themselves are smooth, guttulate (i.e. spores containing one or more oil-like globules), between subcylindrical and narrowly obclavate in shape, with an apex obtuse or truncate and a truncate base; they occur in branched chains that are widest at the basal septum. The hila are inconspicuous or somewhat darkened and thickened, and aren't

refractive In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomeno ...

. There has been no observation of

chlamydospores A chlamydospore is the thick-walled large resting spore of several kinds of fungi, including Ascomycota such as '' Candida'', Basidiomycota such as ''Panus'', and various Mortierellales species. It is the life-stage which survives in unfavourable c ...

. In particular, ''X. strelitziicola'' presents hyphae measuring 2–3 µm in width; microconidiophores measuring 4–7 x 2–3 µm; conidiogenous cells measuiring 7–15 x 2.5–3 µm; macroconidiophores measuring measuring 30–100 x 2.5–3 µm; and

with hila that are 1-1.5 µm wide. Devriesia strelitziicola H-K

Taxonomy and etymology

First described in 2009, the species was placed in the genus '' Devriesia'', located in the family

Teratosphaeriaceae Teratosphaeriaceae is a family of fungi in the order Capnodiales. History In 2007, this family was recognized as distinct from the genus ''Mycosphaerella'', where it had previously been located, based on phylogenies constructed with the Large S ...

, under the name ''Devriesia strelitziicola'', in which the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

is a reference to the host ''

''. In 2019 it was moved to its own genus ''Xenodevriesia'' and its own family

Xenodevriesiaceae ''Xenodevriesia strelitziicola'' is a pathogenic ascomycete fungus in the class Dothideomycetes that infects the South African plant '' Strelitzia''. It is the only species of the monotypic genus ''Xenodevriesia'' and family Xenodevriesiaceae. M ...

, after a

phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

of the entire

class showed its independence from the genus '' Devriesia''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q114364017, ncbi=706560 Fungi described in 2019 Capnodiales