The fungi causing the diseases "lixa grande" and "lixa pequena" of coconut, Camarotella torrendiella. and C. acrocomiae, respectively, have been described by 15 authors under 24 different binomials and 13 genera. The diseases, originally described as being caused by two different fungi, were recently rather arbitrarily ascribed to a single species. Fresh and dried leaflets were examined by stereoscope for morphometric characterization of symptoms and signs of the pathogens. The comparative study of stromata, picnidia, ascomata, asci and ascospores showed differences between the two fungi. Camarotella torrendiella presents ascomata with radially ridged ostioles and ascospores hialine, sub-fusoidal elipsoidal, 23.16 x 8.54 µm on average, with acute ends, while C. acrocomiae has larger ascomata with rugose ostioles and ascospores brown, ovoidal to elliptical, 21.52 x 9.40 µm on average, with blunt ends. Attempts to grow both fungi on culture media were unsuccessful. The mode of infection of Camarotella torrendiella on coconut was elucidated through inoculation tests with ascospores and conidia on healthy young coconut leaflets. The morphology of the fungi causing the "lixas" of coconut proves that they belong to two different species of the genus Camarotella.
Cocos nucifera; coconut; Ascomycota; Dothideales; taxonomy
