{{Short description|Species of fungus}} {{Speciesbox | image = | genus = Waitea | species = zeae | authority = (Voorhees) J.A. Crouch & Cubeta (2021) | synonyms = ''Rhizoctonia zeae'' Voorhees (1934) ''Moniliopsis zeae'' (Voorhees) R.T. Moore (1987) }}
'''''Waitea zeae''''' 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 zeae'' is best known as a plant pathogen, causing commercially significant damage to cereals, grasses, and a wide range of other plants.
==Taxonomy== ''Rhizoctonia zeae'' was originally described from Florida in 1934. It was later considered to be the anamorph (asexual state) of ''Waitea circinata''. Molecular research has, however, 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 (invalidly) as varieties of ''W. circinata'', but have now been described as separate species.<ref name=Stalpers2021/>
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<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 }} http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PD-89-0536</ref>
<ref name=Stalpers2021>{{cite journal |author=Stalpers, J.A. |author2=Redhead, S.A. |author3=May, T.W. |display-authors=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>
}}
==External links== * [https://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp Index Fungorum] * [http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases USDA ARS Fungal Database]
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Category:Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Category:Corticiales Category:Fungi described in 1934 Category:Fungi of North America Category:Fungus species
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