Novel Botrytis and Cladosporium Species Associated with Flower Diseases of Macadamia in Australia
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
in my opinion your work is very interesting in a cognitive context and contributes a lot to mycology, molecular and evolutionary taxonomy. All the tables and figures are appropriate for this type of article. In general, the paper has a logical flow and it is refined in detail. The abstract well correspond with the main aspects of the work. Nevertheless, I see one important shortcoming, namely a discussion in my opinion is too short as for a paper describing new species within the well-known Cladosporium and Botrytis genera. Especially in the context of the issues initiated in the last paragraph (lines 330-335), it is worth giving examples and characteristics of species which are pathogenic or saprotrophic amongst Cladosporium genus. I am convinced that the Authors are able to resolve this problem very fast.
As a reviewer I am obligated to pay attention even to less important weak points of this work and all mentioned below comments should be carefully considered.
Line 34
In my opinion ,,…B. cinerea causes gray-mould rot (Botrytis blight)…” sounds better and is correct, because B. cinerea is called ,,gray mould” but causes ,,Botrytis blight” or (other name) ,,gray-mould rot”
Line 59
,,…identification of species within Botrytis and Cladosporium genera…” sounds better
Line 75
Due to the fact that this study concerns only species from Botrytis and Cladosporium genera which form exogenously conidia should be used term ,,single-conidia cultures" (spores according to definition arise endogenously). I propose to replace this term in the whole work.
Line 79
In my opinion ,,macro- and microscopic studies” or ,,Macro- and micromorphological studies” sounds better
Lines 81 and 82
,,were photographed” sounds better than ,,were recorded”
Lines 81 and 82
Please, lets check whether the abbreviation used (14 d incubation) is correct
Line 94
I think there should be ,, 10 ng x µL-1” of course with ,,-1” with upper script
Lines 89-114
All the gene names should be written in italic
Table 1
All the species names should be written in italic
Lines 176 and 179
In my opinion ,,…a novel species within Botrytis genus…” and ,,…a novel species within Cladosporium genus…” sounds better
Line 189
According to the best of my knowledge correct is ,,conidiophores septated”
Lines 238-240
In the context of ,,Intercalary and terminal conidia” please provide information about conidia, namely whether these are septated or aseptated
Line 245
In my opinion ,,Cladosporium devikae was sister species to C. anthropophilum in the phylogeny” sounds better
Figures 4-7
In the headings of figures 4-7, I propose to replace the terms ,,upper surface” and ,,lower surface” with ,,front” and ,,reverse”, respectively
Line 311
In my opinion something is wrong in this sentence ,,…C. proteacearum were discovered from the isolates obtained from macadamia inflorescences…”. For me sounds better if authors use ,,…C. proteacearum were isolated from macadamia inflorescences…”
Lines 316-317
Gene names should be written in italic. It is also worth checking the entire manuscript in this regard
Line 323
In my opinion ,,pathogenic to the wide range of hosts” sounds better
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This is a very well written paper resulting from very complete analyses. The paper could be improved by adding a table that gives the locations where the new isolates were collected (instead of having to read through every new species description) and abundance (how many times overall that each were isolated).
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
