Notes: Fusarium venenatum was described as a segregate species from F. sambucinum, together with F. torulosum, the three species originally distinguished by their macroconidial size, presence of microconidia and chlamydospores, and growth rates on PDA (Nirenberg 1995). Fusarium torulosum, differing by slower growth rates, red/purple PDA pigmentation, and narrower macroconidia (Nirenberg 1995, Leslie & Summerell 2006, Domsch et al. 2007) was later reaccommodated in the FTSC, hence it is genetically distant to F. sambucinum and F. venenatum (O’Donnell et al. 2013, Crous et al. 2021, Laraba et al. 2022). Both Fusarium sambucinum and F. venenatum are nested within the Sambucinum clade of FSAMSC but are well-resolved phylogenetically. With up to 9-septate macroconidia averaging 44.5 µm long, its typical terminal chains of chlamydospores, and lacking microconidia, F. venenatum differs from F. sambucinum (macroconidia av. 30 µm long, up to 5-septate) and the closest phylogenetic siblings F. amblysporum (macroconidia av. 47.4 µm long, up to 7-septate) and F. cultriforme (macroconidia av. 30.2 µm long, up to 5-septate). Additionally, the growth rates and pigmentation of F. venenatum on PDA (intense red colonies, av. 7.6 mm/d) differ from those of F. amblysporum (white to rosy buff, av. 8.2 mm/d), and F. cultriforme (yellow, av. 4.3 mm/d).
Fusarium venenatum is known from soil, soil debris, and several plant hosts in Amaranthaceae (Beta vulgaris), Asteraceae (Tanacetum cinerariifolium), Cannabaceae (Humulus spp.), and Poaceae (Hordeum vulgare, Triticum spp., and Zea mays), mostly from Europe (Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Spain), but also in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania) and the USA (Farr et al. 2023). The strains involved in the production of the commercial mycoprotein Quorn, originally assigned to F. graminearum, were later identified as F. venenatum by O’Donnell et al. (1998a).