Broad host range species in specialised pathogen groups should be treated with suspicion - a case study on infecting .

Plant pathogenic smut fungi in the broader sense can be divided into the , which cause classical smut symptoms with masses of blackish spores being produced in a variety of angiosperms, and the , which are often less conspicuous, as many do not shed large amounts of blackish spores. The leaf-spot causing members of the genus (, ) belong to the latter group. Currently, 172 species that all infect eudicots are included in the genus. Vánky (2012) recognised five species on species of s.lat. Two have been reported only from s.lat, while three, , , , have been reported to have a broad host range, encompassing 30, 26, and 5 species of , respectively. This broad host range is in contrast to the generally high host specificity assumed for species of , indicating that they may represent complexes of specialised species. The aim of this study was to investigate on s.lat. using multigene phylogenies and morphological comparisons. Phylogenetic analyses on the basis of up to four loci (ITS, 2, 1, and ) showed a clustering of specimens according to host species. For some of these lineages, names not currently in use were available and reinstated. In addition, s.str. is neotypified. Six novel species are described in this study, namely, on , on , on , on subsp. (type host) and , on , and on . For all species diagnostic bases and morphological characteristics are provided. The results in this study once more highlight the importance of detailed re-investigation of broad host-range pathogens of otherwise specialised plant pathogen groups.