[Taxacom] Fungal pest of Opuntia

[Monique Reed]

Forwarding this to the list--If you have any information or can help, 
please reply to the sender.  Thanks.
Monique Reed
.............................
>>> "Hans-Josef Schroers" <Hans.Schroers at kis.si> 1/4/2008 7:36 AM >>>

I am a mycologist/fungal taxonomist/plant pathologist working for the 
Agricultural Institute of Slovenia.

I am currently interested in a fungus that was described from a cladode
of 
an Opuntia sp. in Texas, San Antonio. Specifically I would be
interested 
in fresh Opuntia material with this fungus, however, it would not
matter
so much whether the Opuntia plant grew in San Antonia or anywhere else
in 
Texas.

The fungus is called Gloeosporium lunatum or sometimes Fusarium
dimerum
var. violaceum. I suspect that infected Opuntia species show either
dark 
speckles or dark speckles covered by orange/slightly reddish fruiting 
bodies (sporodochia) of the fungus or only orange/slightly reddish 
sporodochia on upper parts of the cladodes. The orange/slightly reddish

sporodochia have a diameter of 100 to 300 micrometer.

I would be very grateful if you could forward this message to a kind 
phytopathologist working with Opuntia diseases or if you could
recommend 
somebody I could contact.=20

With many thanks and kind regards,

 Hans-Josef Schroers

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