{{Short description|Species of fungus}} {{Speciesbox | image = | genus = Waitea | species = circinata | authority = Warcup & P.H.B. Talbot (1962) | synonyms = }}

'''''Waitea circinata''''' is a species of fungus in the family Corticiaceae. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are corticioid, thin, effused, and web-like, but the fungus is more frequently encountered in its similar but sterile anamorphic state. ''Waitea circinata'' is best known as a plant pathogen, causing commercially significant damage (brown ring patch) to amenity turf grass.

==Taxonomy== ''Waitea circinata'' was originally described from Australia in 1962, where it was found growing on the undersides of clods of earth in a wheat field. The new genus ''Waitea'', named after the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in Adelaide, was created to accommodate the species.<ref name="Warcup&Talbot1962"/> Because of its morphological similarity to species of ''Rhizoctonia'', ''Waitea circinata'' was presumed to belong within the Ceratobasidiaceae, but phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences has shown that it actually belongs in the Corticiaceae and is close to species of ''Laetisaria'' (which are also grass pathogens).<ref name="Lawreyetal2008"/>

Molecular research has also shown that ''Waitea circinata'' is part of a complex of at least four genetically distinct taxa, each causing visibly different diseases.<ref name="Toda2005"/> These taxa were initially treated as varieties of ''W. circinata'', but have now been described as separate species.<ref name=Stalpers2021/> Older references to ''W. circinata'' may refer to any or all of these species.

==Description== Basidiocarps are effused, thin, web-like, smooth, white to pale ochre. Hyphae are multinucleate, colourless, often irregular, 2.5-11 μm wide, without clamp connections. Basidia are often constricted about the middle, with four short sterigmata. Basidiospores are smooth, oblong to cylindrical, 8-12 by 3.5-5 μm, colourless to pale ochre. Sclerotia are pinkish orange to brown, 0.5–3&nbsp;mm wide.<ref name="Roberts1999"/>

==Habitat and distribution== The species appears to be a soil saprotroph, principally associated with grasses, possibly always as a pathogen. Though first described from Australia, it has a cosmopolitan distribution and has been recorded from Europe,<ref name=deBarreda/> North America,<ref name="PD 2007"/> Asia,<ref name="PD 2012"/> and New Zealand.<ref name=Cushnahan/>

==Economic importance== ''Waitea circinata'' is the causal agent of brown ring patch (also called Waitea patch) of amenity turf grasses.<ref name="Toda2005"/><ref name=Cushnahan/>

==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name="Warcup&Talbot1962">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0007-1536(62)80010-2 |vauthors=Warcup JH, Talbot PH |year=1962 |title=Ecology and identity of mycelia isolated from soil |journal=Transactions of the British Mycological Society |volume=45 |pages=495–518 |issue=4 }}</ref>

<ref name="Lawreyetal2008">{{cite journal |vauthors=Lawrey JD, Diederich P, Sikaroodi M, Gillevet GM |year=2008 |title=Remarkable nutritional diversity of basidiomycetes in the Corticiales |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=95 |pages=816–823 |doi=10.3732/ajb.0800078 |pmid=21632407 |issue=7 }}</ref>

<ref name="Roberts1999">{{cite book |title=Rhizoctonia-forming fungi |last=Roberts P. |year=1999 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens |location=Kew |isbn=1-900347-69-5 |pages=104–105}}</ref>

<ref name="Toda2005">{{cite journal |doi=10.1094/PD-89-0536 |vauthors=Toda T, Mushika T, Hayakawa T, Tanaka A, Tani T, Hayakumachi M |year=2005 |title=Brown Ring Patch: A new disease on bentgrass caused by ''Waitea circinata'' var. ''circinata'' |journal=Plant Disease |volume=89 |pages=536–542 |issue=6|pmid=30795375 |doi-access= }} http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PD-89-0536</ref>

<ref name=Stalpers2021>{{cite journal |vauthors=Stalpers JA, Redhead SA, May TW, etal |title=Competing sexual-asexual generic names in Agaricomycotina (Basidiomycota) with recommendations for use |journal=IMA Fungus |year=2021 |volume=12 |issue=22 |page=3 |pmid=34380577| doi=10.1186/s43008-021-00061-3| pmc=8359032 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Cushnahan>{{cite journal |vauthors=Cushnahan MZ, Hannan B |year=2010 |title=Waitea Patch (''Waitea circinata'' var. ''circinata'') in New Zealand golf greens |journal=NZ Turf Management Journal |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=8-9}}</ref>

<ref name=deBarreda>{{cite journal |vauthors=de Barrada DG, de Luca V, Ramón-Albalat A, Leon M, Armengol J |year=2019 |title=First report of Dollar Spot caused by ''Clarireedia jacksonii'' and Brown Ring Patch caused by ''Waitea circinata'' var. ''circinata'' on ''Agrostis stolonifera'' in Spain |journal=Plant Disease |volume=103 |issue=7 |page=1771 |doi=10.1094/PDIS-10-18-1816-PDN|s2cid=91284546 |hdl=10251/140927 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name="PD 2007">{{cite journal |last1=de la Cerda |first1=Karla A. |last2=Douhan |first2=Greg W. |last3=Wong |first3=Francis P. |date=July 2007 |title=Discovery and Characterization of ''Waitea circinata var. circinata'' Affecting Annual Bluegrass from the Western United States. |journal=Plant Disease |doi=10.1094/PDIS-91-7-0791 |volume=91 |issue=7 |pages=791–797 |pmid=30780386 |doi-access= }}</ref>

<ref name="PD 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Ni |first=X. X. |last2=Li |first2=B. T. |last3=Cai |first3=M. |last4=Liu |first4=X. L. |date=December 2012 |title=First Report of Brown Ring Patch Caused by ''Waitea circinata var. circinata'' on ''Agrostis stolonifera'' and ''Poa pratensis'' in China |journal=Plant Disease |volume=96 |issue=12 |pages=1821 |doi=10.1094/PDIS-04-12-0406-PDN |pmid=30727275 |doi-access= }}</ref>

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==External links== * [http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp Index Fungorum] * [http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases USDA ARS Fungal Database]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Waitea circinata}} Category:Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Category:Corticiales Category:Fungi described in 1962 Category:Fungus species