Morphological and molecular characterization of Distoseptispora bambusae from Iran

Distoseptispora generally is  regarded as a saprobic lignicolous fungal genus and presently comprises 64 species. Of these, 42 of them were found in freshwater and 22 in terrestrial habitats. Most Distoseptispora species are reported from China and Thailand, which are subtropical and tropical regions. In this study, we report Distoseptispora bambusae as a saprobic fungus on decaying leaves of common bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) based on morphological characteristics and sequence data of the ITS‒rDNA region. Distoseptispora bambusae was described, illustrated, and its morphology and phylogenetic relationships with similar Distoseptispora species were discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of D. bambusae on common bamboo for the mycobiota of Iran and the Middle East.