© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Abstracts - 16th Hellenic Phytopathological Congress
23
to morphological (macroscopic and micro-
scopic examination), molecular (sequenc-
ing of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region, together
with parts of the flanking 18S and 28S rRNA
genes, and BLAST search), and phylogenetic
(including representatives of relative fungal
genera) analyses performed, the pathogen
was identified as
Neodeightonia phoenicum
A. J. L. Phillips & Crous (syn.
Diplodia phoe-
nicum
), formerly also known as
Macropho-
ma phoenicum
and
Strionemadiplodia phoe-
nicum
. The pathogenicity of the fungus to
P. canariensis
,
P. theophrasti
and
Washing-
tonia filifera
was demonstrated by artificial
wound-inoculation experiments. While in-
fections of
N. phoenicum
with
P. dactylifera
are common worldwide, to the best of our
knowledge this is the first report of such an
infection in Greece. The disease may be fa-
voured by the pruning of older leaves dur-
ing early Spring and the widespread occur-
rence of the red palm weevil
Rhynchophorus
ferrugineus
in Greece.
First report worldwide of leaf spot disease of
Phoenix theophrasti
caused
by
Paraconiothyrium variabile
E.K. L
IGOXIGAKIS
1
, I.A. P
APAIOANNOU
2
, E.A. M
ARKAKIS
3
and M.A. T
YPAS
2
1
Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Plant Protection Institute, National Agricultural
Research Foundation, GR-710 03 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
2
Department of Genetics
and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, GR-157 01 Athens, Greece.
3
Laboratory of Plant
Pathology, School of Agricultural Technology, Technological Educational Institute of
Crete, GR-710 04 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
A severe leaf spot disease of
Phoenix theo-
phrasti
was observed in Heraklion (Crete,
Greece) in the Spring of 2011. Typical symp-
toms of the leaves included initially small,
round-ovoid brown spots, later changing
into streaks (average dimensions 7.3 x 3.3
mm), surrounded by dark brown rings. Final-
ly, the expanding streaks often coalesced to
the production of enlarged necrotic lesions
resulting in leaf blights. Symptoms were
also detected on petioles and leaf bases. Ex-
tended spotting and blighting resulted in
leaf death and unthrifty appearance of in-
fected trees. A filamentous fungus was con-
sistently isolated from the periphery of the
characteristic lesions. According to morpho-
logical (microscopic and macroscopic exam-
ination), molecular (sequencing of the ITS1-
5.8S-ITS2 region, together with parts of the
flanking 18S and 28S rRNA genes, and BLAST
search), and phylogenetic (including repre-
sentatives of relative fungal genera) analy-
ses performed, the pathogen was identi-
fied as
Paraconiothyrium variabile
Riccioni,
Damm, Verkley & Crous. The pathogenicity
of the fungus was demonstrated in artificial
spraying-inoculation tests on seedlings of
P.
theophrasti
.
P. variabile
has so far been isolat-
ed from various woody host plants in South
Africa, Italy, Turkey, China and New Zealand.
This is the first report worldwide of
P. varia-
bile
naturally infecting a palm species.
First report of pink rot of
Phoenix
and
Washingtonia
palm species caused
by
Nalanthamala vermoesenii
in Greece
E.K. L
IGOXIGAKIS
1
, I.A. P
APAIOANNOU
2
, E.A. M
ARKAKIS
3
, E.E. F
RAGKOULI
4
and M.A. T
YPAS
2
1
Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Plant Protection Institute, National Agricultural
Research Foundation, GR-710 03 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
2
Department of Genetics
and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, GR-157 01 Athens, Greece.
3
Laboratory of Plant
Pathology, School of Agricultural Technology, Technological Educational Institute of
