Melampsora salicis-sinicae (Melampsoraceae, Pucciniales), a new rust fungus found on willows in China

• A new rust fungus, Melampsora salicis-sinicae, is described on five willow species in China.
• This species is characterized by amphigenous telia and subcuticular teliospores with apparently thickened apices.
• This new species is morphologically similar to M. capraearum and M. epiphylla.

Based on morphological characteristics and molecular phylogeny, a rust fungus on Salix hsinganica, S. sinica, S. starkeana, S. wallichiana and S. xerophila in China is described as a new species, Melampsora salicis-sinicae. This new species morphologically resembles M. capraearum and M. epiphylla in having subcuticular teliospores with a thickened apical wall, but it differs from these two species in its amphigenous telia. In addition, this new species differs from M. capraearum in its slender teliospores and thinner apical thickness of teliospores, and it also differs from M. epiphylla in the dimension of urediniospores, the position of teliospores and the apical thickness of teliospores. Phylogenetic analyses using partial sequences of the D1/D2 region of nuclear large subunit and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2) regions including 5.8S of ribosomal RNA gene and the translation elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1α) gene revealed that this rust fungus was distinct from its morphologically similar species, M. capraearum and M. epiphylla.