Cystotheca castanopsidis

Cystotheca castanopsidis is a species of powdery mildew in the family Erysiphaceae. It is found on plants in the genus Castanopsis.

Cystotheca castanopsidis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Leotiomycetes
Order:	Helotiales
Family:	Erysiphaceae
Genus:	Cystotheca
Species:	C. castanopsidis
Binomial name
Cystotheca castanopsidis (Meeboon & S. Takam.) Meeboon & S. Takam., 2017
Synonyms
Sphaerotheca castanopsis Meeboon & S. Takam, 2012

Description

Many Cystotheca species form dense, white or brown, distorting patches on the leaves of their hosts. Some species in this genus are also known to cause witch's-broom galls. Cystotheca castanopsidis, like most Erysiphaceae, is highly host-specific and only infects species in the genus Castanopsis.^[1] Also found on the same genus are Cystotheca tjibodensis and Cystotheca esetacea. C. esetacea is characterized by forming brown mycelium without aerial hyphae.^[2]

Taxonomy

The fungus was formally described in 2012 by Jamjan Meeboon and Susumu Takamatsu with the basionym Setoidium castanopsidis,^[1] before being transferred to the genus Cystotheca in 2017.^[3] The species epithet refers to the host genus. The type specimen was collected in Indonesia.