Choanephora cucurbitarum
Choanephora cucurbitarum (Choanephoraceae, Mucorales) on Pumpkin flower
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Mucoromycota
Class:	Mucoromycetes
Order:	Mucorales
Family:	Choanephoraceae
Genus:	Choanephora
Species:	C. cucurbitarum
Binomial name
Choanephora cucurbitarum (Berk. & Ravenel) Thaxt., (1903)
Synonyms
Choanephora americana A. Møller, (1901) Choanephora heterospora B.S. Mehrotra & M.D. Mehrotra, (1962) [1961] Choanephora infundibulifera f. cucurbitarum (Berk. & Ravenel) Schipper Choanephora mandshurica (Saito & H. Nagan.) F.L. Tai, (1934) Choanephora simsonii D.D. Cunn. [as 'simsoni'], (1895) Choanephorella cucurbitarum (Berk. & Ravenel) Vuill., (1904) Cunninghamella mandshurica Saito & H. Nagan., (1915) Mucor cucurbitarum Berk. & Ravenel, (1875) Mucor curtus Berk. & M.A. Curtis, (1875) Rhopalomyces cucurbitarum Berk. & Ravenel, (1875) Rhopalomyces elegans var. cucurbitarum (Berk. & Ravenel) Marchal, (1893)

Choanephora cucurbitarum is a fungal plant pathogen that causes fruit and blossom rot of various cucurbits. It can also affect okra, snap bean, and southern pea, and may cause a stem and leaf rot of Withania somnifera. Recently Das et al. 2017 added few more patho-index on aubergine (Solanum melongena L.), teasle gourd (Momordica subangulata Blume subsp. renigera (G. Don) de Wilde, hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet), green pea (Pisum sativum) from India. Wet weather, high temperature and high humidity favor disease development from inoculum that is typically soil-borne. Signs of infection on fruits or leaves include water-soaked, necrotic lesions, which progress rapidly under ideal conditions. As the fungus begins to produce spores, affected tissues become dark grey-brown and hairy as a result of the superficial sporangia.

Sporangiophores bearing sporangiola are erect, hyaline, unbranched, and apically dilated to form a clavate vesicle, from which arise dichotomously branched, distally clavate secondary vesicles. The sporangioles are indehiscent, ellipsoid, brown to dark brown with distinct longitudinal striations and measure 12-20 μm x 6-12 μm. Sporangia are multispored, spherical, initially white to yellow, pale brown to dark brown at maturity and measure 40-160 μm. Sporangiospores from sporangia are ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid, brown to dark brown, indistinctly striate with fine hyaline polar appendages, and measure 16-20 μm x 8-12 μm (Saroj et al. 2012).

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  Choanephora cucurbitarum (Choanephoraceae Mucorales) on Pumpkin flower Japanese name;Kougaikekabi
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  Choanephora cucurbitarum (Choanephoraceae Mucorales) incubated in wet chamber Japanese name;Kougaikekabi
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  Choanephora cucurbitarum (Choanephoraceae Mucorales) incubated in wet chamber Japanese name;Kougaikekabi

• P. M. Kirk. Mycol. Pap. 152:1, 1984.
• A. Saroj, A. Kumar, N. Qamar, M. Alam, H.N. Singh and A. Khaliq. 2012. First report of wet rot of Withania somnifera caused by Choanephora cucurbitarum in India. Plant Disease 96(2): 293.2. doi:10.1094/PDIS-09-11-0801
• S. Das, S.Dutta, B.Mondal. 2017 First report of Choanephora cucurbitarum, causing leaf blight of hyacinthbean [Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet], in India. Journal of Plant Pathology 99 (2), 533-543 doi:10.4454/jpp.v99i2.3899
• S. Das, S.Dutta, A. Chattopadhyay, and B.Mondal. 2017 First report of Choanephora infundibulifera causing blossom blight of teasle gourd in India. Indian Phytopathology 70(2):265-267 doi:10.24838/ip.2017.v70.i2.70780
• S. Das, S.Dutta and B.Mondal. 2017 First report on blossom and leaf blight of aubergine (Solanum melongena L.) caused by Choanephora infundibulifera (Currey) Sacc., in India. Journal of Mycology and Plant Pathology Vol 47(1):69-73.
• S. Das, S.Dutta, S.P. Kuiry, and B.Mondal. 2017 First report of twig blight disease of green pea (Pisum sativum) caused by Choanephora infundibulifera in India. Indian Phytopathology Vol 70(3):400-402 doi:10.24838/ip.2017.v70.i3.72503

• APS: Choanephora fruit rot on squash. APS publication number IW00007.