A novel species and a new record of Alternaria isolated from two Solanaceae plants in China

Two Alternaria species were isolated from two Solanaceae plants in China, 2017. Both were determined based on morphological characteristics and multigene sequence analysis of the internal spacer rDNA region (ITS), translation-elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), Alternaria major allergen gene (ALT), and RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2). One species from Solanum tuberosum was identified as Alternaria blumeae, and another from Physalis alkekengi was described as a new species. Alternaria blumeae is firstly reported from S. tuberosum in China. The new species was described and illustrated here, as Alternaria physalidis sp. nov. It is clearly distinct from the phylogenetically related species, A. zinniae, in the conidial body length and number of septa.