First Record of Causing Anthracnose on Avocado Fruits in Chile.

Anthracnose caused by species is one of the most frequent and damaging fungal diseases affecting avocado fruits ( Mill.) worldwide. In Chile, the disease incidence has increased over the last decades due to the establishment of commercial groves in more humid areas. Since 2018, unusual symptoms of anthracnose have been observed on Hass avocado fruits, with lesions developing a white to gray sporulation. Morphological features and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses using six DNA barcodes (, , , , ITS, and ) allowed the identification of the causal agent as , a member of the dematium species complex. Pathogenicity was confirmed by inoculating healthy Hass avocado fruits with representative isolates, reproducing the same symptoms initially observed, and successfully reisolating the same isolates from the margin of the necrotic pulp. Previously, several species belonging to other species complexes have been associated with avocado anthracnose in other countries. To our knowledge, this is the first record of and of a species of the dematium species complex causing anthracnose on avocado fruits in Chile and worldwide.