Dried fruits and the traditional food ‘Terkhêna’ are popular foods since ancient times in the western part of Iran. Microbiological food spoilage and toxin production by fungi during storage are serious threats to human health. In this research, we studied 317 Aspergillus isolates obtained from Terkhêna, raisins and three dried fruits apple, apricot and white mulberry. Based on morphological and molecular data (sequences of CaM gene) our isolates are assigned to Aspergillus species in subgenus Circumdati, namely A. luchuensis, A. niger and A. tubingensis in section Nigri, A. flavus/A. oryzae complex in section Flavi, and A. terreus and a new species candidate in section Terrei. Multigene phylogeny based on CaM, BenA and RPB2 sequence data and morphological examinations confirmed the recognition of one novel species in section Terrei that is here formally described as Aspergillus mahabadiensis sp. nov. Two species Aspergillus niger and A. tubingensis were the most frequent species. Some fungus-substrate associations are here reported for the first time.
