The asexual morph of Trichomerium gloeosporum

Trichomerium species are sooty molds that develop superficially on the host surface. There is little morphological and molecular data for the genus. The asexual morphs of Trichomerium have been poorly studied, with also lack molecular data. Several researchers have noted that Tripospermum is possibly the asexual morph of Trichomerium species. In this study, we collected Trichomerium-like taxa from leaves in northern Thailand. The sexual structures found on the specimen were identified as Trichomerium gloeosporum, and Tripospermum-like conidia were also associated with the sexual morph. Cultures were obtained from single Tripospermum-like conidia and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses generated from maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of combined LSU and ITS sequence data demonstrate that our strains isolated from Tripospermum-like conidia clustered with strains of T gloeosporum with high statistical support. A description of the asexual morph of T gloeosporum with molecular data is provided.