Morphological and molecular characterization of Spegazzinia tessarthra (Ascomycota, Didymosphaeriaceae) from Iran

During the study of fungal taxa of gramineous plants, a hyphomycetous fungus with typical characteristics of the genus Spegazzinia was isolated from leaves of Brachypodium sp. (Poaceae), collected in Mazandaran province, Iran. The fungal species was determined as Spegazzinia tessarthra based on the combination of morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS-rDNA) region and a partial region of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (tef1-α) sequences. In this study, we introduce S. tessarthra, saprobic on Brachypodium sp. leaves, as a new record for the Funga of Iran and Brachypodium sp. as a new substrate for the species. The description and illustrations of Spegazzinia tessarthra from Iran have been provided, and its morphology and phylogenetic relationships with other species of Spegazzinia have been discussed. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a species from the genus Spegazzinia in Iran, and further research is needed to determine the diversity of Spegazzinia species in the country.