New species of Bipolaris and Curvularia on grass species in Iran

Abstract

In the present study, six species of <em>Bipolaris</em> viz. <em>B.</em><em> heveae</em>, <em>B. neergaardii</em>, <em>B. papendrofii</em>, <em>B. zeae</em>, <em>B. oryzae</em>, and<em> B. australiensis</em> and two species of <em>Curvularia</em> viz. <em>C. intermedia</em> and <em>C. heteropogonicola</em> were identified on graminicolous species. <em>Bipolaris heveae</em> on <em>Echinochloa</em> sp., <em>Cynodon dactylon</em> and <em>Arundo</em> sp., <em>B. neergaardii</em> on <em>Oryza</em> <em>sativa</em>, <em>B. papendrofii</em> on <em>Saccharum officinarum</em> and <em>Curvularia</em> <em>intermedia</em> on <em>Echinochloa</em> sp. are newly reported from Iran. Some new host plants are reported for above-mentioned fungal species. Moreover, identification key has been prepared for <em>Bipolaris</em> species with 3–4 distoseptate and phylogenetic relationships of some <em>Bipolaris</em> species based on sequencing of rDNA-ITS region is provided.