Abstract
Twenty-six strains representing three species of Colletotrichum were isolated from leaf and fruit lesions of vitaceous plants in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, China. The strains were characterized by morphology and phylogenetic analyses of actin, β-tubulin, calmodulin, glutamine synthetase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and rDNA internal transcribed spacer gene sequences. The combined dataset showed that 20 of 26 strains represented a novel species, the rest being Colletotrichumfructicola (four strains) and Colletotrichumgloeosporioides (two strains). The new species is described herein as Colletotrichumviniferum. Its conidia, compared with similar Colletotrichum species are cylindrical and 12–16 μm long. Based on pathogenicity tests, C. viniferum caused leaf spots and anthracnose of table grape but was not host-specific.