Fungi from submerged plant debris in aquatic habitats in Iraq

An annotated checklist and table of the substrate type for the past and updated fungal species recorded from various submerged plant debris in aquatic habitats of Iraq are provided. Sixty seven (67) species of freshwater and marine fungi occurring in different types of plant debris collected from various locations of Iraq were registered. These include: 46 species of ascomycota, 19 species of hyphomycetes and two species of coelomycetes. Of these, 11 species were reported for the first time in Iraq. Brief descriptions of the new records are presented.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Submerged plant debris (leaves, small branches, stems and wood of deciduous and herbaceous plants) were collected from several locations in south Iraq, these materials were placed in plastic bags and brought to the laboratory, rinsed with tap water, placed on moist filter papers in glass chambers and incubated at 25°C.Samples were examined periodically for any fungal growth.
Cultures of fungi were obtained where possible from single spores; overall emphasis was placed on direct examination of fungi for morphological characterization.For ascomycetes, squash mounts of fungal fruiting bodies were prepared on slides mounted with water and then covered with cover slips for initial examination, water was replaced with lactophenol cotton blue for measurement and photography.India ink in distilled water was used to reveal gelatinous sheaths or appendages on or around ascospores.Permanent slides, dried specimens and/or living cultures were deposited at the Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Basrah.

Ascomycota
Aniptodera chesapeakensis Shearer and Miller, Mycologia 69: 887(1977): Specimen examined: On submerged dead stem of Arundo donax and Phragmites australis, Khor Al-Zubair estuary, Basrah, Iraq, March, 1992.On submerged dead stem of A. donax and P. australis Shatt Al-Arab River near University campus, Basrah September 1995.On unidenitified dead twigs submerged in Shatt Al-Arab river near Abu-AlKhasib, Basrah, November 1998.On submerged dead stem of Typha australis and leaf bases of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in brackish water, Al-Kahla`a river, Missan, Southern Iraq, March 2009.On submerged dead stem of P. australis and unidentified wood, Shatt Al-Arab river near University campus, Basrah, April 2010.
This species was originally described by Shearer and Miller (1977) on Balsa wood submerged in Patuxent River, U.S.A. Subsequent reports of this species have been made by Minoura and Muroi (1978) on Balsa wood submerged in freshwater lake in Japan, from United States on Juncus roemerianus and Spartina alterniflora by Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer (1979), on submerged wood in India Ocean near Sri Lanka by Koch (1982), on drift wood collected from Karala coast, India by Khan and Manimohan ( 2011) and from west and east coast of India by Borse et al. (2013).
This species has been isolated from submerged dead stem and floating dead leaves of T. australis in southern marshes of Iraq (Abdullah and Abdulkadder, 1987) (Table 1 shows the presence of each fungal species).
The Iraqi collections were reported from brackish habitat on submerged wood and stem of T. australis in Al-Kahla`a river, Missan, southern Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Al-Dossary, 2010).The type of species was originally described from submerged wood in Black river in Mauritius (Hyde et al., 1999).This species has been described from submerged dead leaf base of date palm tree in Shatt Al-Arab River near University campus, Basrah, Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Abdullah, 2001).This species was originally described from South Africa on submerged rachis of Raphia australis in 1999 (Hyde et al., 1999).A. palmicola has been isolated from stem of A. donax and unidentified wood immersed in water of Shatt Al-Arab river near University campus, Basrah, southern Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Abdullah, 2001).

Suaeda
sp.  C. globosum is a variable species, especially in the pigmentation of the colonies and the colour of the ascomatal hairs reflected light (von.Arx et al., 1986).This species is associated with decomposing plant debris and has been reported from both terrestrial and aquatic habitats.It was isolated from submerged dead stems of Carex oligosperma in freshwater habitat, USA (Fallah and Shearer, 2001).The fungus has been reported from different habitats in Iraq.(Shearer, 1993;Crane and Shearer, 1995), however, C. saccardoi has been reported on dung, soil and decaying plant materials (Checa et al., 1988).This species has been isolated from dead date palm leaf submerged in Euphrates River, Nassiryia city, Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Abdullah, 2001).This finding represents the first report of the species from freshwater habitats.1:414(1944).Kohlmeyer (1984) considers this fungus as tropical one.Zainal and Jones (1984) reported this fungus on drift wood in coastal waters of Kuwait.It was the most frequently reported in southern Thialand (Sakayaroj et al., 2011).The species has been encountered from west and east coast of India (Borse et al., 2013) The species was found on leaves of Phoenix dactylifera submerged in Shatt Al-Arab River near University campus, Basrah, Iraq (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).

Corollospora maritima
Corollospora pseudopulchella Nakagiri and Tokura, Trans.Mycol.Soc.Jpn.28:428(1987): Ascospore of C. pseudopulchella is similar to that of Corollospora pulchella in size and septation, however, in the former species, the ascospore is attenuated toward both ends and sometimes seems to have terminal appendages, but Corollospora pulchella has ascospores with rounded ends.Most recently this species has been recorded from Kerala and Tamil Nadu state, India (Borse et al., 2013).It was recovered from submerged wood and leaf bases of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in brackish water of Al-Kahla`a river, Missan, southern Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Al-Dossary, 2010).This species is a typical marine taxon and to our knowledge, there is no report from the literature on this species from brackish water, thus it was for the first time to be recorded from brackish water in Al-Kahla`a river located faraway 200 km from the Arabian Gulf and this is typical marine taxon which has been reported from sea-foam in Japan (Nakagiri and Tokura, 1987).The genus differs from Pleospora at the molecular and morphological level, especially the well developed gelatinous sheath drawn into 2-4 subconical extensions (Yusoff et al., 1994).It has been reported on Salicornia spp.(Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979).This fungus was found on dead stems of Suaeda sp.submerged in coastal waters of Umm Qasr, north of Arabian gulf, Iraq and reported under the synonyms of Pleospora gaudefroyi (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).
Didymosphaeria futilis (Berk and Br.) Rehm, Hedwigia 18: 167(1879): In this monograph, Aptroot (1995) regarded D. futilis as one of the seven accepted species in the genus Didymosphaeria.This fungus is cosmopolitan and it has been found in and on stems of various plants, also on dead leaves, wood and even linoleum (Aptroot, 1995).This species was isolated from decaying leaves of T. australis collected from Um-Al-Shwech, southern marshes of Iraq (Abdullah and Abdukadir, 1987).
Jahnula bipileata Raja and Shearer, Mycologia 98:321(2006): J. bipileata is morphologically closest to J. aquatica, however, the former species differs clearly from J. aquatica as it has ascomata with a long cylindrical neck and irregularly striated rough-walled ascospores with a hyaline cap at both apices, features not observed in J. aquatica (Raja and Shearer, 2006).This species was recently recovered from USA on submerged decorticated wood in freshwater (Raja and Shearer, 2006).It was reported on submerged leaf bases of date palm in Hamadan tributary, Abu-Alkhasib and submerged wood in Al-Kahla`a river, Omara, southern Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Al-Dossari, 2010).This finding represents the first report of the species from brakish habitat and dead leaf of date palm is perhaps a new substrate.
Specimen examined: On dead stem of A. donax, P. australis and leaf bases of Phoenix dactylifera submerged in Euphrates river, near Qurna, Basrah, Iraq, November 2010.
The genus Kirschsteiniothelia was established by Hawksworth (1985) using Kirschsteiniothelia aethiops (Berk.and Curtis) D. Hawksworth as the type species.Kirschsteiniothelia maritima (Linder) D. Hawksworth, has been collected from an aquatic habitat (Hawksworth, 1985).The fungus was found on drift wood, bark and coniferous wood (Jones et al., 2009).It was isolated from only one sample for the first time in Kerala state, India (Khan and Manimohan, 2011), most recently it was recorded from Kerala and Pradesh states, India (Borse et al., 2013).Three new plant substrates were investigated for this fungus in this study, and probably the first time to be recorded from brackish water.
This fungus was isolated from mangrove plants in Malaysia (Elias et al., 2010).It was recorded on driftwood collected from Kerala, India from southern Thialand (Sakayaroj et al., 2011) and from west and east coasts of India (Borse et al., 2013), the Iraqi collections are in agreement with the description given for the species by Hohnk (1955) and Pang et al. (2003).The collections were found in brackish and saline water, Basrah, southern Iraq.
Lulworthia grandispora Meyers, Mycologia 49: 513(1957): Many Lulworthia species were originally described by Barghoorn and Linder (1944) as Halophiobolus, but transferred to earlier taxon Lulworthia (Sutherland, 1916) by Cribb and Cribb (1955).The genus has been shown to be polyphyletic based on 18S and 28S sequences analysis and two new genera erected to accommodate species that do not group within the genus Lulworthia sensu stricto (Campbell et al., 2005).
Anamorphs of different Lulworthia spp.include: Anguillospora marina (Lindra obtusa), Cirrenalia pygmea, Cirrenalia tropicalis, Cumulospora varia and Orbimyces spectabilis (Jones et al., 2008).It has been stated that this lignicolous species appeared to be restricted to tropical and subtropical waters (Johnson and Sparrow, 1961;Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979).The fungus has been isolated from twigs in eastern Thialand (Dethoup and Manoch, 2009), from mangrove plants in Malaysia (Alias et al., 2010), from southren Thialand (Sakayaroj et al., 2011) and from west and east coasts of India (Borse et al., 2013), this species was isolated from wood submerged in Qarma tributary, Basrah, southern Iraq (Muhsin and Khalaf, 2002).This fungus is closely related to other members of the genus however, the only differentiated character can be made based on the ascospore measurements.The species generally found on culms of Spartina species (Jones et al., 2009).This species has been isolated from submerged wood in brackish water, Abu-Alkhasib, Basrah, southern Iraq (Muhsin and Khalaf, 2002).

Monosporascus
The fungus was originally described by Sivanesan et al. (1974) as Bitrimonospora indica found on Achyranthes aspera from India.von Arx (1975)  are generally on the salt marsh plants Armeria, Limonium, Salicornia and Suaeda.M. pneumatophorae occur on the bark of pneumatophores of Avicennia species, with recent records from Asian mangroves (Jones et al., 2009), and from Tamil Nadu state, India (Borse et al., 2013).
This species was reported from submerged wood in saline water of Khor Al-Zubair canal, Basrah, southern Iraq (Muhsin and Khalaf, 2002).The taxonomic relegation of species within the genus is based on the substrate type, however, Muhsin and Khalaf (2002) had filded this isolated fungus under this taxon.
A genus characterized by hyaline bicelled ascospores with a characteristic arrangement of the internal wall ornamentation along the septum where small oil globules aggregate and lacking appendages.N. aquatica is similar to Nais inornata, but the former differs in that ascospores develop appendages on release from the ascomata (Hyde, 1992).This is the first record of N. aquatica from Iraq.The data from DNA sequence analysis is by Pang et al. (2003) have shown that N. inornata is closely related to Aniptodera.N. inornata is a marine taxon (Dethoup and Manoch, 2009), however, it has been reported from brackish lake in Italy (Grasso and Laferla, 1985).This species has been isolated from submerged wood in brackish water southern Iraq (Muhsin and Khalaf, 2002).Recently, it has been isolated from brackish water, but on submerged leaf bases of date palm in Omara city, this fungus seems to extend its distribution to Missan province, North-East Basrah (Al-Saadoon and Al-Dossary, 2010).This species was originally described only from freshwater habitats (Shearer and Crane, 1980), although it has been reported frequently from brackish and marine habitats (Kohlmeyer and Volkmann-Kohlmeyer, 1991).It is among the very few species of Halosphaeriales that occur in both freshwater and marine habitats (Campbell et al., 2003).This fungus has been isolated from submerged dead stem of Typha australis, Abu Al-Khasib, Basrah, Southern Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Al-Dossary, 2010).This species has also recently been transferred from Leptosphaeria to the genus Phaeosphaeria (Khashnobish and Shearer, 1996).It has a world wide distribution and reported as a saprophyte on a variety of salt marsh plants such as Juncus maritimus, Spartina alterniflora, Spartina townsendii and Phragmites communis (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979).Kumar (1973) reported on the species on the driftwood submerged in sea water near Madras, India.This fungus is found on T. australis in southern marshes of Iraq (Abdullah and Abdulkadir, 1987).
The delimitation between Phaeosphaeria and Leptosphaeria has been obscure, however, based on morphological data and ITS2 and partial 28S rRNA sequences, Khashnobish and Shearer (1996) supported the monophyly of Phaeosphaeria and suggested that the genus is delimited by the relatively thin peridium composed of thin-walled pseudoparenchyma with 2-4 cell layers.This species has recently been transferred from Leptosphaeria to the genus Phaeosphaeria (Khashnobish and Shearer, 1996).It has been recorded from west and east coasts of India (Borse et al., 2013).This species was isolated on dead leaves of T. australis submerged in water, southern marshes of Iraq (Abdullah and Abdulkadir, 1987).This collection seem to be the first record from a warm region.
Phaeosphaeria typharum (Desm.)L. Hdm., Symb.Bot.Ups.14: 126(1957) (For the synonyms see Jones et al., 2009): This species has been reported from marshes and marine habitats in Europe and North America (Apinis and Chester, 1964;Gessner and Goos, 1973b).It has also been reported from freshwater habitats on different species of Typha plants in Europe by Muller (1950); Munk (1957) and Pugh and Mulder (1971).Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer (1979) considered this species as facultative marine fungus.Abdullah and Abdulkadir (1987) reported the species on decomposing leaves of T. australis submerged in water, southern marshes of Iraq.
Pleospora herbarum (Fr.)Rabenh.Ex Ces.And de Not.Comm.Soc.Critt.Ital.I. 217(1863): This species has been previously reported on a variety of salt marshes plants from Brition by Apinis and Chester (1964).It has been isolated from dead leaves and stems of T. australis submerged in water, southern marshes of Iraq (Abdullah and Abdulkadir, 1987).
Podospora dolichopodalis Mirza and Cain, Can J. Bot.47: 2018(1969): This fungus has been reported from dung of herbivorous animals in USA and Brazil (Mirza and Cain, 1969;Lundqvist, 1973).This species was found on P. australis submerged in Shatt Al-Arab river, near Basrah University, Basrah, Iraq (Al-Saadoon, 2000).P. australis was considered a new substrate.P. inquinata Udagawa and Ueda, Mycotaxon 22: 399(1985): P. inquinata is the only species exclusively recorded from marine sediment collected in the Nagasaki Bay, Japan (Udagawa and Ueda, 1985).It was isolated from freshwater habitat on unidentified wood submerged in the Euphrates River near Battha town, DeQar governorate, south of Iraq (Al-Saadoon, 2000).It was the second kind of the species and unidentified substrate collected from freshwater habitat considered as new substrate.
Pseudohalonectria Minoura and Muroi was established in 1978 for P. lignicola, an ascomycete found on balsa wood submerged in Japanese lake (Minoura and Muroi, 1978).P. phialidica was originally isolated from submerged woody debris in the Salt Fork of the Virmilion river, USA (Shearer, 1989).This fungus has been isolated from freshwater (Shearer, 1989), however, at the present study, it was found on submerged dead culms of A. donax and P. australis in brackish water and a new substrates were found.Jones.Ascomata globose, dark brown, deeply immersed in the wood, coriaceous with long neck, solitary, catenophyses, 700-1150 µm.
April 2010.P. siamensis was isolated from plant substrata in Thailand mangroves.It is characterized by having clavate asci with a truncate, thickened apex, a pore, the ascus plasmalemma is retracted and ascospores are 1-4 septate, hyaline, cylindrical and lacking appendages (Jones et al., 2006).P. siamensis has only been cited once for Iraq and a new substrate was found.
Pyrenophora typhaecola (Cke.)Mull.Sydowia 5: 256(1951): This species has a world wide distribution and has been repeatedly collected on Typha (Munk, 1957;Wehmeyer, 1961;Pugh and Mulder, 1971).It was reported on dead stem and leaves of T. australis submerged in water southern marshes of Iraq (Abdullah and Abdulkadir, 1987).The species is known from freshwater, brackish water and marine water habitats and appears to have a wide distribution and wide salinity tolerance (Eaton and Jones, 1971;Hyde, 1993Hyde, , 1994;;Hyde and Jones, 1988;Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979).Savoryella lignicola was observed on the collections from Lakshadweep island and noticed on drift wood from Kerala, India (Khan and Manimohan, 2011), and recorded from west and east coasts of India (Borse et al., 2013).It was reported from fresh water habitat on P. australis stem submerged in a stream in Nineva province, north of Iraq (Al-Saadoon and Abdullah, 2001).
Syspastospora tetraspora can be distinguished from Syspastospora parasitica, Syspastospora boninensis and Syspastospora tropicalis by its four-spored asci and cylindrical to doliform ascospores, with two large terminal, slightly sunken germ pores.
The species was originally described as a Didymosphaeria enalia Kohlm., but accepted by Barr (1990) as Lojkania enalia (Kohlm.)M.E.barr and by Kohlmeyer and Volkmann-Kohlmeyer (1990) as a type of monotypic V. enalia (Kohlm.)Kohlm.and Volkm.-Kohlm.Initially referred to the Didymosphaeriaceae, Melanommatales by Kohlmeyer and Volkmann- Kohlmeyer (1990), sequence data place it in the Testudinaceae as the most basal clade of the pleosporales (Schoch et al., 2006).V. endia was one of the most common species isolated from twigs collected from beaches in eastern Thialand (Dethoup and Manoch, 2009) and it has been recorded from southern Thialand (Sakayaroj et al., 2011).It was one of the frequently encountered taxon for all states and union territories investigated in India (Borse et al., 2013), this species has been isolated from submerged dead rhizomes of A. donax, Shatt Al-Arab river, Basrah (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).A. donax, P. australis and unidentified wood were considered as new substrates for this fungus.This fungus has been isolated from unidentified dead twig collected from the Euphrates near Battha town DeQar governorate, southern Iraq (Guarro et al., 1996).

Zopfiella karachiensis (Ahmed and
Z. karachiensis appears to be reasonably widely distributed (Guarro et al., 1991).There are records of it from Egypt (Mouchacca, 1973), Japan, Thailand (Udagawa et al., 1979), Kenya, Tanzania and India (Khan and Krug, 1990).The species was originally described by Ahmed and Asad (1967) from sheep dung collected from Pakistan.It was changed to Zopfiella because its ascospores are not conical as in Triangularia (Guarro and Cano, 1988).It has been isolated from decaying Typha stem in water, Al-Hammar marshes, near Basrah, Iraq (Abdullah, 1983).This is a fairly common and wide spread species isolated from various herbaceous and woody submerged in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, as well as from dung (Guarro et al., 1991).It was recorded from Chile, Denmark, India, Japan, South Africa, USA and India (Lundqvist, 1969;Shearer, 1972;Furuya and Udagawa, 1973;Tubaki and Ito, 1973;Borse et al., 2013).It has been isolated on decaying Typha plant in water, AL-Hammar marshes, near Basrah, southern Iraq (Abdullah, 1983).Z. submersa has been isolated from submerged dead culms of Phragmites sp. and A. donax in Euphrates River, DeQar, Iraq (Guarro et al., 1997).This species was reported on Spartina alterniflora (Gessner and Goos, 1973a, b;Gessner, 1977Gessner, , 1978) ) and Salicornia (Reidle and Ershad, 1977).It has been isolated from P. australis submerged in water near Basrah University Campus, Basrah (Muhsin and Abdulkadir, 1995).This species has been recorded from various halophytes (Pugh and Buckley, 1971;Lindsey, 1976).It was isolated from dead stems of P. australis submerged in water, Shatt Al-Arab, near Basrah University campus, Basrah (Muhsin and Abdulkadir, 1995).Trichocladium linderi Crane and Shearer, Mycologia 70: 866(1978).The fungus has been transferred to Bactrodesmium based on the presence of compact sporodochia (Palm and Stewart, 1982), and not a feature of Trichocladium which has mononematous and scattered conidiophores (Ellis, 1971).The species was originally isolated from balsa wood submerged in esturine water, USA (Crane and Shearer, 1978).Most recently it has been reported from west and east coasts of India (Borse et al., 2013).It has been reported on dead leaves of T. austeralis submerged in Shatt Al-Arab river, near University campus, Basrah southern Iraq (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).rotundus L. and A. donax L. submerged in Shatt Al-Arab River, Basrah, southern Iraq and two substrates were considered as new for this fungus (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).

Aureobasidium pullulans (
Cylindrocladium camelliae Venkataramani and Ram, Current Science 30: 186(1961): This species was isolated from root of Phellodendron amurense in Japan (Watanabe, 1994).C. camelliae was isolated from submerged leave bases of date palm and stem of A. donax, Abu-Al-Khasib, Basrah, southern Iraq, (Al-Saadoon and Al-Dossary, 2010).It was the first report for the species from water habitat.Dendryphiella arenaria Nicot., Rev. Mycol., Paris 23: 93(1958) (Figure 7a and b): Colonies on PCA growing rapidly, effuse, dark blackish brown, velvetly, reverse grey to black; hyphae pale to mid brown, smooth, 2-5 µm thick, septate and branched.Conidiophores macronematous simple or branched, straight or flexuous, pale to mid brown to olive brown, cylindrical 1-3 septate apically swollen up to 90 µm long, conidia straight, ellipsoidal, cylindrical or obpyriform, mostly 1-3 septate, rarely with 4-septa, pale brown to olivaceous, often with dark septa and dark spot at one end 7-20 x 4-6 µm.Specimen examined: On submerged dead stem of P. australis and unidentified wood, Shatt Al-Arab, near Qarma, Basrah, southern Iraq, November 2010.Ellis (1976) referred to the species as Scolecobasidium, however, in the marine Dendryphiella species conidiogenous cells are enteroblastic and denticles are absent.Ellis (1976) described pegs on the conidiogenous cells but these may be confused with extensions from the conidia as seen in SEM micrographs.D. arenaria is frequently reported from saline environments (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979) and it is known from various saltmarsh halophytes (Gessner and Goos, 1973b;Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979;Muhsin and Booth, 1987).Our collection represents the first report of the species from Iraq.
Exserohilum rostratum (Drechsler) Leonard and Suggs., 66: 290(1974): Drechsler halodes (Drechsler) Subram. and Jain, Curr. Sci. 35:354(1966).Specimen examined: On submerged dead stem of A. donax and P. australis, Shatt Al-Arab river, near Qarma, Basrah, April.2010.The fungus was reported on the aerial parts of Spartina alterniflora (Gessner, 1977) and halophytic plants from an inland salt marsh at Delta, Man, Manitoba, Canada (Muhsin and Booth, 1987).The species has been described as Drechslera halodes on dead culms of Cyperus rotundus submerged in Shatt Al-Arab River near Al-Khora tributary, Basrah, southern Iraq (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).Changed to Halenospora because its conidia produce a lateral rather than a terminal spiral as in Z. maritima.The indiridual cells in H. varia are narrower than those of Z. maritima, and form knot-like structures (Jones et al., 2009).Records in adjacent areas was by RaghuKumar (1973) from Indian Ocean by Koch (1982), from Srilanka by Khan and Manimohan ( 2011) west and east coasts of India.This fungus seems to be cosmopolitan as reported by Kohlmeyer (1984), occurring on intertidal wood, submerged leaves, seedling of Rhizophora mangle (Jones et al., 2009).It has been isolated from dead rhizomes of A. donax submerged in Shatt Al-Arab River near Nashwa village and Al-Khora tributary, Basrah (Abdulkadir and Muhsin, 1991).Predominantly on decaying seaweeds, especially members of the Fucales (Jones et al., 2009).Mature conidia are generally not constricted at the septa, but before germination each conidial cell becomes rounded and septate into individual cells or several cell clusters, from which hyphae germinate.This is the first reference of H. parvula from Iraq.

Stachybotrys atra
Virgariella atra Huges, Can.J. Bot.31: 653(1953): This species has been found on rotten wood of Fagus, Fraxinus and Quercus from Great Britain (Ellis, 1971).From the literature, this species has not been reported from marine environment, thus it was the first time to be recorded from saline water on wood submerged in Khor Al-Zubair estuary, Basrah, southern Iraq (Muhsin and Khalaf, 2002).
This species occur on the salt marsh plants Halimione portulacoides and various Salicornia species (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979).Only one record for this fungus in the Arabian Gulf was reported by Zainal and Jones (1984) from driftwood in coastal waters of Kuwait.Most recently it has been reported from west east coasts of India (Borse et al., 2013).
Specimen examined: On submerged dead leaf base of date palm, Al-Kahla`a river, Missan, March 2009.On unidentified wood submerged in Shatt Al-Arab River near University campus, Basrah, April 2010.
, from lakshadweep Island and kerala stat in India, by Sakayaroj et al. (2011), from Southern Thialand and by Borse et al. (2013) from Specimen examined: On dead stems of A. donax, P. australis, unidentified wood and dead leaf bases of Phoenix dactylifera submerged in water, Shatt Al-Arab, near Abu-Al-Khasib and Qarma, Basrah, April 2009, November 2010.

Abdullah and Al-Saadoon.
Stachybotrys sp. on P. australis dead stem collected from tidal zone of Khawr Al-Zubair canal, southern Iraq.Recently, it was isolated from sugarcane plant in Iraq. A. zubairiensis differs from two other known species in the genus (Arxiomyces vitis (Fuckel) P.F.Cannon and Hawksworth and Arxiomyces campanulatus Horie,

Table 1 .
List of fungal species and substrate type from water habitats in Iraq.