Morphology and phylogeny of Botryosphaeria dothidea causing fruit rot of olives

Abstract

The taxonomic position of the causal agent of fruit rot of olives was determined from fresh collections of the fungus from central Greece. In culture it formed two types of conidia, namely fusiform, hyaline, aseptate conidia typical of the genus Fusicoccum, and dark-walled, ovoid, ellipsoid or fusiform, 1-2 septate conidia that are not typically observed in Fusicoccum. A phylogenetic analysis based on ITS and EF1-alpha sequences placed the fungus within the same clade as Fusicoccum aesculi, which is the anamorph of Botryosphaeria dothidea, and the type of the genus Fusicoccum.