onidiomata pycnidial, abundant and aggregated with pale yellow cirrhi in 10-d-old cultures. Conidiophores hyaline and unbranched. Conidiogenous cells hyaline, smooth, polyphialidic, enteroblastic, smooth-walled, narrowing at the apices, (8.85–)11.70(–13.77) × (1.38–)2.10(–2.95) μm (n = 20). Conidia hyaline, aseptate, smooth, thin-walled, allantoid, eguttulate, (5.0–)6.2(–7.5) × (1.5–)2.2(–2.5) μm (n = 20). Culture characteristics: Colonies on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 21 °C incubated under black light were round or irregular and 10–14 mm diam. after 3 d, becoming round and 80–90 mm diam. after 7 d; initially flat and white, turning pale olive grey to olive black on the surface with a grey irregular margin, older cultures olive-black on reverse. Flat, with a thick texture at the centre. Some aerial hyphae observed, but culture largely velvet or felt-like.

Cytospora braithwaitei was isolated from an apple tree branch exhibiting tip dieback and stem canker symptoms. No symptoms were observed on fruit. While internal wood discolouration was observed, the association between the fungus and the symptoms remains unknown. Numerous Cytospora species have been associated with apple tree diseases (Hanifeh et al. 2022), many of which are opportunistic pathogens infecting mainly old or weakened trees. The potential impact of C. braithwaitei on the orchard in New Zealand was considered low and the grower reported very low spread of the tip dieback among the trees.

Typus: New Zealand, Christchurch, Belfast, Crawford Road, on branch of Malus domestica (Rosaceae), Nov. 2020, R. Wards (holotype PDD97343, culture ex-type ICMP 23884 = CBS 151301; ITS, LSU, act, rpb2, tef1-α and tub2 sequences GenBank OR807325, OR808087 OR814108, OR814112, OR814116 and OR814120).