Alternaria momordicae S. L. L. Aung & J. X. Deng sp. nov. Fig. 3 Type. China, Sichuan Province, Deyang city infected leaves of Momordica charantia. 2016, J. X Deng, (YZU - H- 2016001, holotype), ex-type culture YZU 161378. Etymology. Refers to the host genus, Momordica. Description. Colonies on PDA (7 d at 25 ° C) greyish yellow-green, light white at the edge, buff to salmon in reverse, surface compact, 50–55 mm in diam. (Fig. 3 A, B). On PCA (7 d at 22 ° C), conidiophores arising from substrate, simple, straight or flexuous, septate, olivaceous buff to olivaceous, 26.5–93 × 3–4 μm (x ̄ = 59.5 × 3.8 μm, n = 20); conidiogenous cells 5–10 × 3–5 µm (x ̄ = 7 × 4 µm, n = 20), mono- to polytretic, terminal, determinate, cylindrical, olivaceous buff to olivaceous, smooth, thin-walled, apically doliiform, with 1 conidiogenous locus cicatrized on conidial secession, sometimes swollen near conidiogenous loci; conidia 3–4 units per chain, arising from the apex or near the apex of the conidiophores or terminal hyphae, muriform, long ellipsoid or ovoid to obclavate, sometime inverted club-shaped, 6–42 × 4–34 μm (x ̄ = 32.8 × 13.5 μm, n = 50), 1–5 transverse septa, apical beak 2–19.5 μm long and 1–2 septa (Fig. 3 C, E); On V 8 A (7 d at 22 ° C), conidiophores straight or curved, smooth-walled, olivaceous buff 23–63 (– 208) × 3–5 μm (x ̄ = 64.9 × 4.2 μm, n = 20); conidiogenous cells 5–13 × 3–4 µm (x ̄ = 7 × 4 µm, n = 20), mono- to polytretic, terminal, determinate, cylindrical, olivaceous buff, smooth, thin-walled, apically doliiform, with 1 conidiogenous locus cicatrized on conidial secession, sometimes swollen near conidiogenous loci; conidia 3–4 units per chain, muriform, long ellipsoid or ovoid to obclavate, inverted club-shaped, 24–61 × 10 – 17 μm (x ̄ = 39 × 14.3 μm, n = 50), 1–5 transverse septa with apical beak 3–25.5 μm long and 1–2 septa (Fig. 3 D, F). Additional isolate examined. China, Sichuan Province, Deyang city infected leaves of Momordica charantia. 2016, J. X Deng, living culture YZU 161379. Notes. After the combined dataset of ITS, GAPDH, TEF 1, RPB 2, Alt a 1, EndoPG and OPA 10-2 gene fragments, A. momordicae sp. nov. is readily distinguished from its sister species A. baoshanensis, A. jingzhouensis sp. nov., A. koreana, and A. ovoidea, (Fig. 1). After a nucleotide pairwise comparison as suggested by Jeewon and Hyde (2016), the present species can be readily distinguished from the closet species A. koreana and others related a novel species based on any of the ITS, GAPDH, TEF 1, RPB 2, Alt a 1, EndoPG, and OPA 10-2 genes, which has 1 bp difference in the ITS region, 1 bp in GAPDH, 1 bp in TEF 1, 4 bp in RPB 2, 8 bp in Alt a 1 and 10 bp in EndoPG when compared with A. koreana and 1 bp in GAPDH, 4 bp in RPB 2, and 11 bp in OPA 10-2 when compared with A. jingzhouensis sp. nov .. Morphologically, A. momordicae sp. nov. produces conidia on PCA that are significantly shorter than those on V 8 A. It can be distinguished from A. baoshanensis, A. koreana, and A. ovoidea by producing conidia on a single conidiogenous locus with a wider body and longer beak in a chain of 3–4 units. Additionally, it differs from A. jingzhouensis sp. nov. by having a longer beak (Table 2).

Published as part of Aung, Sein Lai Lai, Liu, Feng-Yin, Gou, Ya-Nan, Nwe, Zin Mar, Yu, Zhi-He & Deng, Jian-Xin, 2024, Morphological and phylogenetic analyses reveal two new Alternaria species (Pleosporales, Pleosporaceae) in Alternaria section from Cucurbitaceae plants in China, pp. 125-139 in MycoKeys 107 on pages 125-139, DOI: 10.3897/mycokeys.107.124814