Following investigation was carried out to identify some of ASCOMYCETES collected from Mazandaran forest. During different seasons of the year, the specimens were collected from Vaz forest which is located in Chamestan, and were studied in the laboratory. After staining the samples, microscopic characters of them such as the form and size of the ascus, ascospore and paraphysis were drawn and determined.Afterwards, the specimens were identified, being referred to the available references. The results of the identification of the collected fungi ended to the report of four new species for Iran for the first time. These species which belong to the order of Helotiales and family of Helotiaceae are as follows:Neobulgaria pura (Fr.) Petrak Ascocoryne cylichnium (Tul.) Korf Bisporella citrina (Batsh ex. Fr) Korf and Carpenter Chlorociboria aeruginascens (Nyl.) Karst.

Three new records of Pezizales including one genus Scutellinia and two species of Helvella are reported for the first time from Uzbekistan. Scutellinia scutellata (L.) Lambotte, Helvella acetabulum (L.) Quel. And Helvella quelletii Bres. were found from the Nuratau ridge, North-Western Pamir-Alay. Detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided.

Microscopic studies on the lichen flora of ASCOMYCETES in Golestan province, show that this lichen flora have a rich variety and in this research, in order to compare with other resources of this region and Europian and Asian countries, 9 species of 5 family were described. Most of the identified species belonged to Lecanorales. All of the identified lichens of this research are the epiphytic lichens of the north of Iran; that their characteristics and morphology as the macroepiphytic species on the forest trees of golestan province, is presented: Cladoniaceae: Cladonia coniocraeaLecanoraceae: Bryoria capillaris                     Evernia prunastri                     Xanthoria parietinaParmeliaceae: Flavoparmelia caperata                     Parmelia sulcuta                     Punctelia subreductaPhyscicaceae: Physcia adscendensUsneaceae: Usnea articulata

This study is a review on the genus Helvella (Pezizales, Helvellaceae) in Iran. Study on Iran fungal herbarium specimens along with the fresh materials collected in this survey revealed that seven species of Helvella viz. H. acetabulum, H. atra, H. crispa, H. elastica, H. ephippium, H. lacunosa and H. leucopus (as H. monachella) have already been reported from Iran. Three other species viz. H. costifera, H. latispora and H. leucomelaena are reported here newly for Iran. Re-examination of specimen named as H. cf. pezizoides showed it is belong to H. ephippium. Short description and photographs of the new records along with distribution map and fruiting frequency of Iranian species are provided. Analyses of sampling date of some 70 specimens showed that all of the species reported from Iran, have been collected from North and North-West of country and most of the ascocarps are found in autumn, last summer and fall (October). An identification key to the Helvella species collected in Iran is presented.

Three species of the genus Xylaria (Xylariaceae) are presented based on collections from Guilan Province, Iran. Both morphological and molecular characteristics were used in order to identify these species. Xylaria longissima sp. nov. is described and illustrated as a new Xylaria species, and X. cf. striata and X. xylarioides are reported as new records fro Iranian mycobiota. Xylaria longissima and X. xylarioides were collected from wood of unknown dicotyledonous plants and X. cf. striata was collected from soil. Differences between these species and other closely related taxa are discussed. The result of this study indicates that sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region have sufficient resolution to distinguish between major species groups.

Cercospora leaf spot with the fungal agent Cercospora beticola is one of the most important diseases of sugar beet in many countries of the world including Iran (Dabbagh et al. 2015). According to research conducted in many countries, cercospora leaf spot disease not only affect the quantity of sugar beet production but also have a negative effect on the quality characteristics of the crop such as sugar content and its constituent compounds (Dabbagh et al. 2015; Khan et al. 2007). The results of a study showed that in addition to reducing photosynthesis, the cercospora leaf spot disease causes a decrease in sugar and the amount of amino acids with the increase of phenolic substances, and has a negative effect on the process of producing sugar as the final product of sugar beet, as well as on root weight, sugar yield and raw syrup purity (Yoshimura et al. 1992). In Iran, this disease has been reported from Khuzestan, the shores of the Caspian Sea, Ardabil, Urmia, Khoy, Bojnord, Bandar Abbas and Kazerun (Eeshad 1995). In Khuzestan province, the level of contamination in some years, especially in early planting dates has been observed up to 50 and 80% in commercial and susceptible cultivars, respectively (Dabbagh et al. 2015). The most important symptom of cercospora leaf spot disease includes more or less circular spots, which spreads on old leaves and covers the whole leaf. Epidemic occurs rapidly and complete leaf senescence occurs (Jacobsen and Fran 2009). During the visit and inspection of sugar beet fields in Kermanshah province, no signs of cercospora round spot disease were observed. In August 2023, during a visit to the sugar beet fields located in Gowdin region of Kangavar county, the symptoms of this disease were observed on BTS and Salama cultivars. After transferring samples to the laboratory and preliminary evaluations in order to isolate the pathogen, the parts of the infected leaves with disease symptoms that contained C. beticola fungus spores were rinsed with sterile water and the obtained spore suspension was spread on 1.5% water-agar medium. After the spores germinated, one germinated spore was transferred to the culture medium (Potato Dextrose Agar) PDA (Abbasi et al. 2004). After the necessary evaluations based on the formation of conidiophores on the stromal tissue on the infected spots, the shape of the progeny on the culture medium and the measurement of the conidiophores and conidia, the fungi species C. beticola was identified by comparing with reliable scientific sources (Fig. 1) (Chand et al. 2013). . It should be noted that cercospora leaf spot caused by C. beticola is usually observed in relatively hot and humid areas, but in this study, the disease was observed in the easternmost part of Kermanshah province in a relatively cold and dry area. This is the first report of Cercospora leaf spot disease of sugar beet caused by C. beticola from Kermanshah province.

Pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi growing on insect’, s body can significantly affect their biology and population. To identify insect-associated fungi, the life stages of the insects, including larva, pupa and adults (alive or dead and helthy), were collected from different habitats in Golestan and Khuzestan Provinces during 2017-2018 and their associated fungi were isolated after surface-sterilization. In this study, 13 various isolates were identified according to morphological and molecular analysis. For molecular detection, ITS-nrDNA, tef1a, tub2 and gapdh sequences were obtained depending on the target species. Accordingly, twelve species were identified as follow: Auxarthron kuehnii, Biscogniauxia sp., Cladosporium halotolerans, Curvularia mosaddeghii, Fusarium brachygibbosum, Lasiodiplodia mediterranea, Metarhizium brunneum, Nigrospora gorlenkoana, N. oryzae, N. osmanthi, Petriella guttulata and Phascolomyces articulosus. In this study, the genus Phascolomyces (P. articulosus) and the species A. kuehnii, L. mediterranea, N. gorlenkoana and N. osmanthi are reported from Iran for the first time.

Through a survey of macrofungi in Ghalajeh heights and its surrounding plains, conducted from 2014-2017, twelve specimens of macroascomycota were collected. The specimens were identified on the basis of macro-and micro-morphological characteristics. The internal transcribed spacer sequences of the selected specimens were analyzed to confirm the morphological identification. Based on the results, five species, including Terfezia claveryi, Tirmania pinoyi, Helvella acetabulum, Picoa juniperi and Picoa lefebvrei were identified. T. claveryi and T. pinoyi species had been previously reported from Kermanshah Province, but H. acetabulum, P. juniperi and P. lefebvrei species were reported for the first time.

In this study, the forest areas of the North and North-West provinces were explored. Samples were collected from the roots, crowns, and trunks of the living trees. Samples (fungal fruiting body or the caps) were mainly of basidiomycetes and ASCOMYCETES fungi types. The traits of each mushroom, its host, the location of the site were recorded. After the microscopic analysis of the cap, samples were investigated regarding the shape, color, thickness, the presence or absence of base, the presence or absence of upper and lower rings or both based on the type of tissue, the size, and other important characteristics. Some Species of forest medicinal fungi which according to previous research appear to have a significant impact on controlling various human diseases are introduced. It is hoped that this experiment provides a context for the cooperation of researchers and pharmacists. Some species are both edible and drug and hence cannot be directly applied. Generally speaking, the medicinal mushrooms such as Oudemansiella radicata are not edible and dangerous and should not be used as food.