Amirreza Amirmijani

Taxonomically sooty mould fungi belong to different families and even orders and classes; however, the name sooty mould mostly was associated with the Capnodiaceae. Taxonomy of the capnodiaceous fungi is very complicated and needs more studies. In northern Iran, most of the sooty mould infections are caused by anamorphic Capnodiaceae. During this study, we isolated several sooty mould fungi and obtained 28S nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA and TEF1-a sequences and completed a phylogenetic analysis for better understanding of the relationships of genera in Capnodiaceae. In this study, 73 distinct isolates exhibiting characteristic capnodiaceous species morphology were obtained. After morphological examination, 25 isolates representing all cultured species were subjected for sequencing. All analyses commonly resolve five clades for Iranian collections. In TEF1-a phylogenetic tree, all sequences for sooty mould fungi are newly published and there are no records in genetic databases. Conidiocarpus guilanensis is described as a new species. Phylogenetic and taxonomic position of Antennariella, Chaetocapnodium and Chaetasbolisia is discussed. We propose the name Fumagospora G. Arnaud to be chosen for a Capnodium sensu Hughes/Fumagospora-associated species.