A new combination in Phytopythium: P. kandeliae (Oomycetes, Straminipila)

Phytopythium is a new segregate genus of the diverse and polyphyletic oomycete genus Pythium. We analysed the morphology and phylogeny (partial large and small subunits and the complete internal transcribed regions of the ribosomal DNA and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I region of the mitochondrial DNA) of an authentic strain and three recent isolates of Halophytophthora kandeliae collected from a mangrove area in Brazil. Maximum likelihood trees showed that all isolates clustered within the clade provisionally named Phytopythium, which includes 13 species of Pythium from clade K, and the type species of the genus Phytopythium, P. sindhum. Based on the results presented in this paper and previous studies, we consider that H. kandeliae should be transferred to the genus Phytopythium and therefore we proposed a new combination, P. kandeliae.