Pseudopyricularia hedjaroudii sp. nov. (Pyriculariaceae, Magnaporthales): a novel species from Iran Author Ghorbani, Golzar 0000-0001-9777-2338 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj 31587 - 77871, Iran. & golzar. ghorbani @ ut. ac. ir; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 9777 - 2338 golzar.ghorbani@ut.ac.ir Author Pordel, Adel 0000-0001-5999-9443 Plant Protection Research Department, Baluchestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Iranshahr, Iran. & adelpordel @ yahoo. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 5999 - 9443 adelpordel@yahoo.com Author Javan-Nikkhah, Mohammad 0000-0001-9533-0157 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj 31587 - 77871, Iran. & jnikkhah @ ut. ac. ir; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 9533 - 0157 jnikkhah@ut.ac.ir text Phytotaxa 2021 2021-01-07 479 1 95 104 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.479.1.7 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.479.1.7 1179-3163 5413423 Pseudopyricularia hedjaroudii M. Javan-Nikkhah, A. Pordel & G. Ghorbani sp. nov. Fig. 3 . MycoBank number MB837879 Etymology:—The species name is proposed in honour of Professor Ghorbanali Hedjaroud, a distinguished Iranian mycologist. Description: — On the infected leaf, conidiophores scattered, solitary, erect, pale brown to brown, swollen at the base, wall somewhat thickened, macronematous, mononematous, typically unbranched, sometimes branched, straight, consisting of 0–7(–11) cells, 98–400 × 3–5 µm. Conidiogenous cells 112–300 ×2–3 µm, integrated, terminal, intercalary, sympodial, cylindrical, geniculate, denticulate, denticles cylindrical, thin-walled, pale brown. Conidia solitary, dry, obpyriform, hyaline, (13-)15–25(–28) × (5–)6–9 µm, apical cell 10–12 µm long, basal cell 6–9 µm long, smooth, 1-septate, hilum often protuberant, 1 µm. On SNA-barley seeds, conidiophores scattered, solitary, erect, pale brown to brown, swollen at the base, wall somewhat thickened, macronematous, mononematous, typically unbranched, sometimes branched, straight, consisting of 0–1 cell, 29–55 × 4–6 µm. Conidiogenous cells 5–25 ×2–4 µm, integrated, terminal, intercalary, sympodial, cylindrical, geniculate, denticulate, denticles cylindrical, thin-walled, pale brown. Conidia solitary, dry, obclavate, hyaline, (19–)20–34 × 6–9 µm, apical cell 13–18 µm long, basal cell 13–16 µm long, smooth, 1-septate, hilum often protuberant, 1 µm. Sexual stage unknown. FIGURE 2. Maximum likelihood tree inferred from combined CAL , ITS and RPB1 sequences of different species in family Pyriculariaceae . Posterior probabilities larger than ≥90% and ML analyses larger than ≥90% are provided above internodes. Pseudopyricularia hedjaroudii is shown in red and bold. FIGURE 3. Morphological characters of Pseudopyricularia hedjaroudii (IRAN 3988C, Ex-Type). On SNA- barley seed, a–f. Conidia. g–k. Solitary, erect, unbranched conidiophores. On infected leaves, l–p. Conidia. q–r. Solitary, erect, unbranched conidiophores. Scale bars = 10 µm. Cultural characteristics: Colonies on OA transparent, white, reaching 39 mm diam after 1 wk at 23–25 °C, on PDA with a white surface and pale brown reverse, reaching 50 mm diam after 1 wk at 23–25 °C, on SNA white surface and white reverse, reaching 38 mm diam after 1 wk at 23–25 °C. On SNA- barley seed, and WA- Cyperus leaf was consisting of smooth, hyaline, branched, septate hyphae. Material examined : Iran . Gilan Province , Someh Sara region, on infected leaves of Cyperus sp. ( Cyperaceae ) , November 2018 , M . Javan-Nikkhah ( IRAN 18059 F ; holotype ), ex-type living culture ( IRAN 3988 C ). Note : The morphology and molecular methodologies were proved the two isolates obtained from sedge plants are relatedness to Pseudopyricularia genus and confirmed as new species. BLASTn search with the generated sequence of the ex‒ type strain ( IRAN 3988 C ) showed high similarities to Ps. bothriochloae strain CPC 21650 [( ITS : Identities = 503/520 (97%), gaps= 4/520(0%)), (28 S : Identities = 803/8 06(99%), gaps = 1/806(0%)), and ( RPB 1 : Identities = 671/672(99%), gaps = 0/672(0%))] and to Ps. hyrcaniana strain IRAN 2760 C [( CAL : Identities = 366/414(88%), gaps = 17/414(4%))]. The new species can easily be distinguished from other species in the genus, in terms of different size and shape of conidia. Ps. hedjaroudii are similar to Ps. hyrcaniana , Ps. bothriochloae , and Pyricularia caffra in 1-septate conidia ( Pordel et al. 2017 ). However, the conidia of Ps. hedjaroudii differ in length from Ps. hyrcaniana ((17–)20–29(−31) µm), Ps. bothriochloae ((18–)19–22(–23) µm) and Py. caffra (20–31.5 µm). Conidiophores of Ps. hedjaroudii are more prolonged than of the Ps. hyrcaniana (65–125(−140) µm), Ps. bothriochloae (90–180 µm), and Py. caffra (45–100(–175) µm). Besides, conidia shape of Ps. hedjaroudii differs from Py. caffra ( Matsushima 1993 ; Barbosa et al. 2008 ). Phylogenetic analyses revealed Pseudopyricularia genus is the sister group of Macgarvieomyces ( Klaubauf et al. 2014 , Pordel et al. 2017 ). Macgarvieomyces is distinguished from Pseudopyricularia and Pyricularia sensu stricto based on the morphology and phylogeny criteria ( Klaubauf et al. 2014 , Pordel et al. 2017 ). In phylogenetic trees Ps. hedjaroudii is well-separated from Ps. bothriochloae , Ps. hyrcaniana , and Ps. hagahagae .