Cladosporium personatum Berk. & M.A. Curtis, Grevillea 3 (27): 106 (1875).

USA. South Carolina: Santee River, on Arachis hypogaea (Fabaceae), (no date), Ravenel 1612 (Holotype K n.v.; Isotype IMI 104552, n.v.; Epitype CBS H-22946, n.v.).

For more synonyms see Crous and Braun 2003; Videira et al. 2017 or MycoBank.

Leaf spots amphigenous, subcircular to irregularly angular, 2–8 mm diam., reddish brown, later dark brown by abundant caespituli, finally sometimes greyish brown to blackish brown, margin indefinite. Caespituli amphigenous, greyish brown to dark brown. Mycelium mainly internal. Stromata small to well-developed, up to 48 μm diam., immersed in the mesophyll or in substomatal chambers, subcircular to irregular, brown to dark brown. Conidiophores in moderately dense to dense fascicles, arising from stromata, breaking through the adaxial epidermis of the leaves or penetrating through stomatal openings, or solitarily arising through stomatal openings, cylindrical, straight to sinuous or geniculate, conically truncate at the apex, unbranched, (12.5–)20–55.5(–58) × 5–7 μm, 1–3(–4)-septate, pale brown to brown, paler towards the apex. Conidiogenous loci 2.5 μm wide, thickened and darkened. Conidia solitary, cylindrical to long-obclavate with round apex, straight to curved, (14–)23–68(–80) × (5–)5.5–8(–9) μm, 2–6-septate, pale brown to olivaceous brown, base obconically truncate, 2–3 μm wide, hila thickened and darkened.

Benin. Donga: Taneka-Koko, c. 441 m a.s.l., 9°51'30"N, 1°29'34"E, on Arachis hypogaea, 29 Jul 2017, Y. Meswaet, M. Piepenbring N. S. Yorou and participants of the summer school 2017, YMM49A (M-0312662; UNIPAR). Benin. Borgou: Parakou, c. 354 m a.s.l., 9°20'02"N, 2°38'48"E, same host, 27 Aug 2019, Y. Meswaet and R. Dramani, YMM224A (M-0312663). Benin. Borgou: Parakou, Songhai (farm school), c. 333 m a.s.l., 9°24'42"N, 2°41'24"E, same host, 30 Aug 2019, Y. Meswaet and A. Tabé, YMM247 (M-0312664). Benin. Borgou: Commune of Nikki, Tontarou, c. 452 m a.s.l., 9°50'23"N, 3°14'59"E, same host, 19 Sep 2019, Y. Meswaet, A. Tabé and M. Piepenbring, YMM295 (M-0312665).

Nothopassalora personata. On Arachis sp.: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). Kindu, 28 Jan 1920, Shantz H. L., 628 (BPI 439440 as Cercospora personata Berk. & M.A. Curtis). On Arachis sp.: Guinea. 5 Sep 1964, Litzenberger S. C., 91 (BPI 439443 as C. personata). On A. hypogaea: Indonesia, Java, Tegal, 28 Jan 1920, Raciborski, s.n (BPI 407235 “type?” of Septogloeum arachidis Racib.).

On Arachis glabrata Benth., A. hypogaea (Fabaceae), known in tropical regions where the host is cultivated, including Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, EI Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Lesser Antilles, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe (Yen and Lim 1980; Hsieh and Goh 1990; Shin and Kim 2001; Crous and Braun 2003; Farr and Rossman 2021).

Nothopassalora personata and Passalora arachidicola (Hori) U.Braun are the agents of the two major foliar diseases of Arachis hypogaea worldwide (Jenkins 1938; Kokalis-Burelle et al. 1997; Videira et al. 2017). During the collecting activities in Benin, we observed that both, N. personata and P. arachidicola, are present wherever A. hypogaea is grown and mixed infections are common. In addition, N. personata is occasionally associated with Puccinia sp. N. personata often predominates and is more destructive than P. arachidicola. N. personata differs from P. arachidicola, in forming wider conidiophores (5–7 μm) as well as cylindrical and wider conidia [(5–)5.5–8(–9) µm], while P. arachidicola forms narrower conidiophores [(3.5–)4–5 µm)] and conidia (3.5–4.5 μm). N. personata and P. arachidicola on A. hypogaea were previously reported from Benin (Crous and Braun 2003), but this is the first report of these pathogens in Benin including details of the two species.