Abstract

The pear pathogen, Taphrina bullata, has been reported from Australia, but has not been collected in the last 100 years. Searches for preserved herbarium material revealed only three Australian specimens collected from Victoria in 1902 and 1903. Morphological features of these specimens and a single partial rDNA internal transcribed spacer sequence agree with T. bullata. Possible reasons for the apparent disappearance of the disease over the last 100 years are discussed.