sp. nov., causing trunk cankers on avocado in Italy.

Trunk and branch cankers are among the most important diseases compromising avocado production worldwide. A novel species, sp. nov. is described isolated from trunk lesions on in the main avocado producing area of Sicily, Italy. The new species is characterised using a polyphasic approach including morphological characters and a multilocus molecular phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequences of the translation elongation factor1α, the internal transcribed spacer regions plus the large subunit of the rDNA cistron, and the RNA polymerase II second largest subunit. Pathogenicity tests and the fulfilment of Koch's postulates confirm as a novel canker pathogen of .