Querciphoma Phyllanthi-Emblicae, a Novel Leaf Endophyte in Amla (Phyllanthus Emblica L.) from Yunnan, China

During our ongoing study of fungal endophytes associated with economic plants in Yunnan, China, Querciphoma phyllanthi-emblicae sp. nov. is introduced and illustrated. The new species was isolated from healthy leaves of Phyllanthus emblica (amla or Indian gooseberry) in Honghe County. Morphologically, the new species is typical of Querciphoma in having eustromatic, uni- to multi-loculate, setose conidiomata and ellipsoidal, hyaline, aseptate conidia. However, the new taxon can be distinguished from other Querciphoma species by producing long-necked pycnidia that are smaller than other Querciphoma species. Multigene phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated ITS, LSU, SSU, and tef1-α sequence matrix, based on maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference criteria demonstrated that Q. phyllanthi-emblicae is a sister species to Q. foliicola in Leptosphaeriaceae. This is the first report of a fungal endophyte in Querciphoma occurring on Phyllanthus emblica. In addition, a synopsis of morphological features and geographic distributions of all Querciphoma species is provided in this article.