Sphaerulina quercicola, a new species for the funga of Iran

Sphaerulina is a genus of fungi which belongs to the family Mycosphaerellaceae in the order Mycosphaerellales. In a survey of leaf-inhabiting fungi associated with trees in Hyrcanian forests, several isolates of the genus Sphaerulina were recovered from leaf spot symptoms of oak trees. Integration of multi-locus phylogenetic analyses (LSU, ITS, actA and tef1) and morphological identification were applied to identify the isolates. The results revealed that, the isolates belong to a species of the genus Sphaerulina, namely, S. quercicola. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first report of this species for the funga of Iran.