Characterization of Glomerella acutata, the Teleomorph of Colletotrichum acutatum

Abstract

The association between the anamorph Colletotrichum acutatum and a new teleomorph, Glomerella acutata, was documented. Fertile perithecia were produced in a series of crosses between self-sterile monoconidial strains of C. acutatum, demonstrating a previously undescribed teleomorph directly associated with the anamorph originally described by J. H. Simmonds in 1965. Strains capable of crossing included the C. acutatum type specimen, originally isolated from papaya (Carica papaya) in Australia by Simmonds, and other archived and contemporary strains from several hosts from the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The resulting teleomorph, Glomerella acutata, was described and illustrated as a new species which can be distinguished from other taxa by a combination of features of the anamorph, the teleomorph, and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Perithecia of G. acutata were black-brown, predominantly ampulliform, 125 × 312 μm (mean 183 μm) diam, ostiolate and periphysate. Asci were narrowly clavate and bore up to eight oblong to ellipsoidal ascospores which measured 8.5-(15.7)-25.1 × 3.1-(5.8)-8.1 μm.