New species of Bipolaris and Curvularia on grass species in Iran

In the present study, six species of Bipolaris viz. B. heveae, B. neergaardii, B. papendrofii, B. zeae, B. oryzae, and B. australiensis and two species of Curvularia viz. C. intermedia and C. heteropogonicola were identified on graminicolous species. Bipolaris heveae on Echinochloa sp., Cynodon dactylon and Arundo sp., B. neergaardii on Oryza sativa, B. papendrofii on Saccharum officinarum and Curvularia intermedia on Echinochloa sp. are newly reported from Iran. Some new host plants are reported for above-mentioned fungal species. Moreover, identification key has been prepared for Bipolaris species with ۳–۴ distoseptate and phylogenetic relationships of some Bipolaris species based on sequencing of rDNA-ITS region is provided.