Rhizoctonia
| Rhizoctonia | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Disease of cucumber caused by Rhizoctonia solani | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Cantharellales |
| Family: | Ceratobasidiaceae |
| Genus: |
Rhizoctonia DC. |
| Type species | |
|
Rhizoctonia solani J.G. Kühn |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Moniliopsis Ruhland |
|
Moniliopsis Ruhland
Rhizoctonia is a genus of anamorphic fungi in the order Cantharellales. Species do not produce spores, but are composed of hyphae and sclerotia (hyphal propagules) and are asexual states of fungi in the genus Thanatephorus. Rhizoctonia species are saprotrophic, but are also facultative plant pathogens, causing commercially important crop diseases. They are also endomycorrhizal associates of orchids. The genus name was formerly used to accommodate many superficially similar, but unrelated fungi.
Rhizoctonia was introduced in 1815 by French mycologist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle for plant pathogenic fungi that produce both hyphae and sclerotia. "Rhizoctonia" means "root killer" and de Candolle's original species, Rhizoctonia crocorum (teleomorph Helicobasidium purpureum), is the causal agent of violet root rot of carrots and other root vegetables. Subsequent authors added over 100 additional names to the genus, most of them plant pathogens bearing only a superficial resemblance to the type species.Rhizoctonia thus became an artificial form genus comprising a diverse range of unrelated species.
As part of a move towards a more natural classification of fungi, R.T. Moore proposed in 1987 that Rhizoctonia should be restricted to the type species and its relatives, with unrelated species moved to other genera. Unfortunately, this meant that the best-known but unrelated species, Rhizoctonia solani (teleomorph Thanatephorus cucumeris), would have undergone a name change to Moniliopsis solani. To avoid this, it was subsequently proposed that R. solani should replace R. crocorum as the type species of Rhizoctonia. This proposal was passed and the type of Rhizoctonia is now conserved as R. solani under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
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