Taxonomic Considerations on the Red-Headed Scale Fungi in Japan

Abstract

The color and shape of the sporodochia and perithecia were investigated in 31 strains of the redheaded scale fungi which form sporodochia on the body surfaces of 21 species of scale insects. All of the sporodochia were orange-red and varied in shape. These stains could not be separated on the basis of color and shape of the sporodochia. Only 2 strains which were found on Lepidosaphes tubulorum FERRIS and Pseudaulacaspis pentagona TARGIONI formed perithecia, which were of the Nectria type. The macro-conidia, produced in Sabouraud dextrose agar of single isolates, were measured for size and were examined for the number of septa and their shapes. These characters did not differ among strains except for one strain. The fungus strain, which was isolated from Pseudaonidia paeoniae COCKERELL, formed distinctly small macro-conidia. The observations indicated that all, except one strain, should be reduced to one species, Nectria episphaeria (TODE) SNYDER et HANSEN. The exceptional strain was identified as Fusarium nivale SNYDER et HANSEN.