A New Disease for Europe of Caused by Species.

The Indian laurel-leaf fig () is an important ornamental tree widely distributed in the urban areas of Italy. Surveys conducted in 2019 and 2020 on several tree-lined streets, squares, and public parks in Catania and Siracusa provinces (Sicily, southern Italy) revealed the presence of a new disease on mature trees. About 9% of approximately 450 mature plants showed extensive branch cankers and dieback. Isolations from woody tissues obtained from ten symptomatic plants consistently yielded species belonging to the family. The identification of the recovered fungal isolates was based on a multi-loci phylogenetic (maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood) approach of the ITS, -α, and gene regions. The results of the analyses confirmed the presence of three species: , , and . Pathogenicity tests were conducted on potted, healthy, 4-year-old trees using the mycelial plug technique. The inoculation experiments revealed that all the species identified in this study were pathogenic to this host. Previous studies conducted in California showed similar disease caused by spp., and the pathogenic role of these fungi was demonstrated. To our knowledge, this is the first report of affecting in Europe.