• Source: Sphaeropsis

The Sphaeropsis are a genus of fungi, within the family of Botryosphaeriaceae and within the order of Botryosphaeriales, within the class Dothideomycetes. They are plant pathogens.
Most known species is Sphaeropsis sapinea (Fr.) Dyko & B. Sutton (1980) (or Diplodia sapinea (Fr.) Fuckel and Diplodia pinea (Desm.) J. Kickx f.), which is the causal agent of the Diplodia tip blight disease on pines and other conifer species. It is also found on forest and ornamental trees in the Western Balkans, Europe, and in the United States.




History


The genus Sphaeropsis was introduced by Saccardo in 1880 (for several species of Diplodia with brown, aseptate conidia), with Sphaeropsis visci named as the type species. Sphaeropsis was later found to be the asexual morph of Phaeobotryosphaeria (Phillips et al. 2008, 2013; Wijayawardene et al. 2017).




Distribution


Species in Sphaeropsis have a cosmopolitan distribution since they have been recorded from both temperate and tropical countries. Including; Germany, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, (Phillips et al. 2013; Slippers et al. 2014; Farr and Rossman 2019). China (Sphaeropsis citrigena and Sphaeropsis guizhouensis), and Chile.




Etymology


Sphaeropsis is derived from the New Latin from sphaer meaning sphere or globe and opsis meaning appearance, vision.
So named as the species are similar in form to the fungal genus Sphaeria Haller, Hist. Stirp. Helv. 3: 120 (1768), (in the Hypoxylaceae family, Xylariales order).




Hosts


Species Sphaeropsis visci causes leaf-spot disease on Asian mistletoe (Viscum coloratum (Kom.) Nakai) in China, and also on European mistletoe (Viscum album) populations.
While species Sphaeropsis pinea (Needle cast) is a significant problem in Chile.




Species


As of 1 September 2023, the GBIF lists up to 143 species, while Species Fungorum lists about 139 species (out of 374 records). Over 600 species were accepted by Wijayawardene et al. 2020.
This list of species with name, authority and dates is based on the Species Fungorum list.




= Former species

=
Many older species of Sphaeropsis have been transferred to other genera. Such as Sphaeropsis malorum (Berk.) Berk. (1860), is now Botryosphaeria stevensii Shoemaker, (1964).
Aklso Sphaeropsis tumefaciens Hedges (1911) now Cophinforma tumefaciens.
Sphaeropsis pyriputrescens C.L. Xiao & J.D. Rogers (2004) (Sphaeropsis Apple rot), now Xenosphaeropsis pyriputrescens (in the Phacidiaceae family).




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Sphaeropsis
• Diplodia tip blight
• Cophinforma tumefaciens
• Pilidiella quercicola
• Phomopsis obscurans
• Botryodiplodia ulmicola
• Phoma nebulosa
• Botryosphaeria stevensii
• Phaeobotryosphaeria
• Sydowia polyspora