Rossman & al. • (2141) Conserve Phomopsis citri H.S. Fawc.
TAXON 62 (3) • June 2013: 627
Acknowledgements
It is a pleasure to thank Mrs. Valentina Bublik (Fundamental
Botanical Library of the National Institute of Carpology, Moscow) for
bibliographic searches of the publication dates of botanical literature.
Special thanks go to the Staff of the Rare Books Division of the
British Library (B. Blanchard, Y. Zhang) who provided valuable bibliographic assistance with the dates of publication of books.
(2141) Proposal to conserve the name Phomopsis citri H.S. Fawc. (Diaporthe
citri), with a conserved type, against Phomopsis citri (Sacc.) Traverso & Spessa
(Ascomycota: Diaporthales: Diaporthaceae)
Amy Rossman,1 Dhanushka Udayanga,1,2 Lisa A. Castlebury1 & Kevin D. Hyde2
1 Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture – Agriculture Research Services,
Beltsville, Maryland 20705 U.S.A.
2 Institute of Excellence in Fungal Research, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
Author for correspondence: Amy Rossman, [email protected]
(2141)
(H)
Phomopsis citri H.S. Fawc. in Phytopathology 2: 109. Jun
1912, nom. cons. prop.
Typus: United States, Florida, Lake Alfred, Ana, “On twigs
of Citrus sp.”, 26 Apr 2000, Timmer (BPI No. 892456 [dried
culture of AR 3405]), typ. cons. prop.
Phomopsis citri (Sacc.) Traverso & Spessa in Bol. Soc. Brot.
25: 123. 1910 (Phoma citri Sacc. in Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital.
8: 200. Aug 1876).
Lectotypus (hic designatus): Italy, Treviso, a Vittorio, “on
branch of Citrus limon”, “Diplodia citri”, Oct 1875, Saccardo in Mycotheca Veneto No. 332 (FH).
The name Diaporthe citri applies to a fungus that causes a disease on Citrus known as melanose or stem end rot of mature fruit after
harvest and occurs widely in North America and Asia (Mondal & al.
in Pl. Dis. 91: 387–392. 2007; Fischer & al. in Sci. Agric. (Piracicaba)
66: 210–217. 2009). Initially described as the illegitimate Phomopsis
citri H.S. Fawc. 1912, non P. citri (Sacc.) Traverso & Spessa 1910
(≡ Phoma citri Sacc. 1876), the Fawcett name was placed in Diaporthe
by Wolf (in J. Agric. Res. 33: 625. 1926); thus, as Diaporthe citri F.A.
Wolf, the name currently has priority only from 1926.
Plant pathologists have referred to this fungus as Diaporthe
citri or Phomopsis citri for the past one hundred years (Timmer &
Kucharek, Melanose, Plant Pathology Factsheet PP-150, Inst. Food
Agric. Sci. Univ. Florida, 2001: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/CH/
CH01900.pdf; Nozaki & al. in Fitopatol. Brasil. 29: 429–432. 2004;
Mondal, l.c.; Fischer, l.c.). The genus Phomopsis Sacc. & Roum.
(1884) is a synonym of Diaporthe Nitschke (1870). In addition the
name Diaporthe medusaea Nitschke (Pyrenomyc. Germ. 2: 251. 1870)
has also been used for this disease following Wehmeyer (in Univ.
Michigan Stud., Sci. Ser. 9: 1–349. 1933) who regarded D. citri as a
synonym of D. medusaea.
Recent research has clarified the relationship of D. citri with
D. medusaea and these two species are now considered distinct
(Udayanga & al. in Persoonia [accepted]). In the course of that research two earlier names were discovered for D. citri, namely Diaporthe citrincola Rehm (in Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 6: 2269. 1914) and
Phomopsis caribaea W.T. Horne (in Phytopathology 12: 417. 1922).
Neither of these two names has been used to any extent. Because
the name Diaporthe citri has been applied to melanose and stem rot
disease of Citrus for decades and Fawcett (l.c.) explicitly stated that
he was unaware of any previous Diaporthe or Phomopsis on Citrus,
it is proposed that Phomopsis citri H.S. Fawc. be conserved against
its earlier homonym P. citri (Sacc.) Traverso & Spessa. This will
make the former name available as a basionym for Diaporthe citri
(H.S. Fawc.) F.A. Wolf, giving this name priority over what would
otherwise be the earlier taxonomic synonyms D. citrincola and Phomopsis caribaea, both of which predate the currently first legitimate
publication as Diaporthe citri F.A. Wolf.
As no type material of P. citri was found at either BPI or FLAS,
leaving only an illustration (Fawcett, l.c.) as a potential, but unsatisfactory, iconotype, a recent specimen from diseased Citrus sp. is
proposed as a conserved type for Phomopsis citri.
Version of Record (identical to print version).
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