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Title: Proposal to conserve the name Diaporthe eres against all other competing names (Ascomycota, Diaporthales, Diaporthaceae)

Author
item ROSSMAN, AMY - Retired ARS Employee
item UDAYANGA, DHANUSHKA - Mae Fah Luan University
item Castlebury, Lisa
item HYDE, KEVIN - Mae Fah Luan University

Submitted to: Taxon
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2014
Publication Date: 8/28/2014
Citation: Rossman, A.Y., Udayanga, D., Castlebury, L.A., Hyde, K. 2014. Proposal to conserve the name Diaporthe eres against all other competing names (Ascomycota, Diaporthales, Diaporthaceae). Taxon. 63(4):934-935.

Interpretive Summary: Everything needs a name in order to communicate about it including fungi that cause diseases. If two names of fungi are confused, there is a set of rules that dictate which name should be used. Usually the oldest name, that is, the first name applied to a species, is the correct name. Until recently fungi were allowed to have two scientific names, however, changes in the rules for naming fungi now require the use of only one name. Two names had been applied to a group of fungi that cause canker diseases of woody plants such as grapes and peaches. If the oldest name for this group were used, it would become a name that nobody knows and it would be difficult to gather information about its biology. This research proposes to conserve the well-known name used for this fungus. This research will be used by plant pathologists and geneticists who use the accurate scientific names of these fungi to communicate about their research and the diseases caused by these fungi.

Technical Abstract: With the change to one scientific name for pleomorphic fungi based on relative priority, Diaporthe represents the generic name that is older than the synonym Phomopsis. At present Diaporthe includes over 800 names while the number of names described in Phomopsis exceeds 1,000, thus merging these two genera is a significant task. Given the almost equal numbers of names in each genus and equal use of each generic name, recent workers have decided it is preferable to allow priority to operate and retain Diaporthe and regard Phomopsis as a synonym. The type of Diaporthe has been accepted as D. eres. The asexual state of D. eres has been known by the older name Phomopsis oblonga. Under either the sexual or asexual state name, Diaporthe eres is known to cause diseases of trees such as butternut and woody crop plants such as grapes and peaches. In the only monograph of Diaporthe, D. eres is included with synonymous names listed under each host of which 61 were published prior to 1867. All of these names are absent from the recent literature. It is not known for certain if these names are indeed synonyms of D. eres and it would be difficult to determine this. No living type cultures exist for any of these names. Given the widespread acceptance of the name D. eres for the type of Diaporthe and the need to circumscribe the species in Diaporthe using the type as a reference point, the conservation of D. eres over all other older names is proposed.