ابوالفضل نرمانی - Postdoc Researcher, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, P.O. Box ۵۱۶۶۶-۱۴۷۶۶, Tabriz, Iran
کیوان کریمی - Research Assistant Prof., Department of Plant Protection, Safiabad Agricultural Research and Education and Natural Resources Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Dezful, Iran, P.O. Box ۶۴۶۳۱-۶۴۰۰۹
مهدی ارزنلو - Prof. in Mycology, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, P.O. Box ۵۱۶۶۶-۱۴۷۶۶, Tabriz, Iran

In the winter of ۲۰۲۳ and during routine examinations of date palm trees in Safiabad, Dezful (Khuzestan Province, Iran), an intense white mass of fungal molds was observed on the leaf scars of the said trees. Purified isolates were subjected to morphological and molecular examinations. Typical morphological characteristics viz. single-celled, hyaline, smooth and obovate to ellipsoidal conidia arising by sympodial growth with basal scar prominent produced holoblastically on denticulate conidiogenous cells revealed that, all fungal isolates belong to the genus Sporothrix. Furthermore, based on a combination of morphological and sequence data of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of rDNA, the recovered fungal isolates were determined as S. ranii. Therefore, based on the present information, it is the first report of this species for the funga of Iran and its second report in the world.

Fungal mold, epiphyte, ITS-rDNA, Morphology, Phoenix dactylifera