INTRODUCTION

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is the 3rd most important vegetable in the Philippines. It is being cultivated throughout the world and has been a profitable source of income. Moreover, plant diseases attribute to the decrease supply of both preharvest and postharvest tomato. The attack of fungi is one of the contributors of the diseases in tomato. Pseudopithomyces species known to be a common cause of diseases of dark spots in various plants including medicinal plants, grasses, cereals, and legumes. It is included in family Didymosphaeriaceae which is normally characterized by brown, thick-walled, 1-septate ascospores and trabeculate pseudoparaphyses, which anastomose above the asci in a gelatinous matrix. Furthermore, several studies suggests that it constitute a potential threat considering its production of toxins which can cause serious skin damage to animals like sheep and goats. Increasing the knowledge about this type of microorganism through conducting of phylogenetic and phenetic analysis will introduce new discoveries which will contribute in the field of mycology.