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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #379806
Research Project: Management of Specimens and Associated Information in the U.S. National Fungus Collections, with Emphasis on Critically Important Plant Pathogenic Fungi

Location: Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory

Title: Validation of Peronospora species names

Author
item DAVIS, WILLIAM - Orise Fellow
item Crouch, Jo Anne

Submitted to: Mycotaxon
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/6/2022
Publication Date: 2/8/2022
Citation: Davis, W.J., Crouch, J.A. 2022. Validation of Peronospora species names. Mycotaxon. 136(4):785-788. https://doi.org/10.5248/136.785.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5248/136.785

Interpretive Summary: The strict set of rules that dictates how plant pathogens are named sometimes leads to unintentional omissions by authors when they propose names for newly identified pathogens. This often leads to instances where the names of some plant pathogens are not valid and cannot be used. In this paper the names of five fungal pathogens that cause downy mildew diseases are investigated and validated so that they can be used by plant quarantine officials, plant pathologists, disease diagnosticians, and other scientists who need accurate scientific names to communicate about pathogens.

Technical Abstract: Peronospora is a species-rich genus of economically and ecologically relevant plant pathogens. The application of competing species concepts in the genus led to some confusion concerning species boundaries, and the genus is in need of revision. The last major treatment of Peronospora was a 1991 annotated list of names — including invalid names and names of species transferred to other genera. Some names were invalid because the author failed to provide a Latin description, which was required at the time of description. Here five names — Peronospora coronillae-minimae, P. erini, P. papveris-pilosi, P. ranunculi-flabellati, and P. viciiola — are validated by either providing an English description or reference to the original English description.