New species of Septoriaassociated with leaf spot diseases in Iran

ABSTRACTSpecies of Septoriaare commonly associated with leaf spot diseases of a broad range of plant hosts worldwide. During our investigation of fungi associated with leaf spot diseases in northern and northwestern Iran, several Septoriaisolates were recovered from symptomatic leaves on different herbaceous and woody plants in the Asteraceae, Betulaceae, and Salicaceae families. These isolates were studied by applying a polyphasic approach including morphological and cultural data and a multigene phylogeny using a combined data set of partial sequences of the 28S nuc rRNA gene (large subunit [28S]), internal transcribed spacer regions and intervening 5.8S nuc rRNA gene (ITS) of the nuc rDNA operon, actin (actA), translation elongation factor 1-α (tef1), calmodulin (cmdA), β-tubulin (tub2), and DNA-directed RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2). Four novel species are proposed, namely, Septoria eclipticolaon Eclipta prostrata, Septoria firouraghinaon Cirsium arvense, Septoria guilanensison Populus deltoides, and Septoria taleshanaon Alnus subcordata. All species are illustrated, and their morphology and phylogenetic relationships with other Septoriaspecies are discussed.