Abstract
Pattern of detection and distribution of Mycosphaerella musicola and M. fijiensis (including the var. difformis) in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands indicate a centre of origin of fijiensis in the New Guinea-Solomon Islands area. From there the pathogen was carried, most likely in scale leaves on word sucker rhizome or in leaf trash, to Taiwan, the Philippines, some of the adjacent islands in Indonesia, and most of the south Pacific islands. Movement into Fiji, Hawaii, Philippines, and southern Malaysia has occurred probably within the past 30 years. M. musicola still predominates in most of Indonesia including Java, and Sumatra, the island of Borneo, and on the Asian mainland except in southern Malaysia. Wherever fijiensis has invaded areas occupied by musicola it has replaced the latter as the dominant banana leaf spot.