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Ramophialophora chlamydospora, a dematiaceous hyphomycete, recovered from alkaline water of Lake Fasida in Wadi-El-Natron, Egypt, is described. It has phenotypic characterization of branched conidiophores ending with terminal phialides with collarettes, on which dacryoid, brown conidia are formed in slimy heads, and the formation of abundant chlamydospores, a characteristic morphological feature for this new species, that differentiates this new species from the other four species of Ramophialophora. Sequence analysis of ITS region revealed its relationship with members of order Sordariales. A culture of the new fungus was preserved as pure one and deposited in the culture collection of the Assiut University Mycological Centre as AUMC 11013. The ITS sequence data was uploaded to the GenBank as KX446768 and the morphological characterization was uploaded to MycoBank as MB828700.

This work aimed to evaluate for the first time in Egypt the biodiversity of mycobiota that inhabit the guts of three insect species collected from Assiut Governorate. 50 adult insect samples (28 worker honey bees, 11 black beetles and 11 red palm weevils) were analyzed. 68 species and three varieties were recovered of which 49 species and 2 varieties were filamentous fungi and 19 species + one variety were yeasts. The number of taxa recovered from red-palm weevils and honey bees was almost equal, while lower number was isolated from beetles. However, a higher number of yeast species was obtained from the gut of red-palm weevils than those obtained from honey bees or black beetles. Some filamentous species were recovered from the guts of the three insect species (Aspergillus niger, A. parasiticus, A. terreus, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Penicillium chrysogenum), while others were reported from one or two insect species. However, none of yeast species was regularly recovered from the three insect guts, but two insect species may share the same yeast species in their guts. Other yeast species were restrictedly isolated from guts of one insect species. Some gut samples were fungi-free. To our knowledge, some of the isolated yeast species are being reported here for the first time from insect guts. On the other hand, ITS sequence data from several strains did not match well with those of known described species, and are probably new species.

The floricolous yeasts and filamentous fungi of 44 samples of flowers from both ornamental (20 samples) and edible fruit plants (24 samples) were evaluated. The general isolation medium DRBC supported more fungal species diversity in both flowers, than the xerophilic media (DG18 and MY50G). The highest numbers of fungal propagules were recovered on DG18 from flowers of ornamental plants, while the lowest on MY50G from flowers of edible plants. Yeasts constituted small proportion of propagules from the two flower types on the three media. Yeasts were represented by 18 genera and 26 species. Metschnikowia (3 species, from which M. reukaufii and M. viticola), Candida (4 species, from which C. riodocensis and C. vaccinia), Cryptococcus (C. albidus var. kuetzingii), Meyerozyma (M. guilliermondii), Naganishia (N. diffluens), Rhodotorula (2 spp., R. mucilaginosa), and Vishniacozyma (2 spp., V. carnescens) were infrequently encountered on the three media, beside Filobasidium (2 species), Galactomyces (G. candidus), Papiliotrema (P. flavescens), Pichia (P. kluyveri), and Sporidiobolus (S. metaroseus) which were recorded on two media. Some other yeast species were recovered only from one flower type but not from the other. Cladosporium (10 species) was the most common genus (100 % of samples from both types of flowers), accounting from 66.45 % to 87.25 % of total fungi. C. herbarum, C. cladosporioides, C. oxysporum, and C. sphaerospermum were recovered in high frequency from both types of flowers, but C. herbarum yielded the major proportion (61.23 % to 75.77 % of total fungi). Other filamentous fungi e.g. Alternaria (19 species, from which A. alternata and A. chlamydospora), Aspergillus (47 species, from which A. flavus, A. niger, and A. terreus), Penicillium (29 spp., P. chrysogenum and P. olsonii), Fusarium (12 spp., F. incarnatum, F. solani, and F. verticillioides), and Stemphylium (3 species, S. botryosum and S. sarrciniforme) were found contaminating all flowers on almost all isolation media.

Moubasher AH, Abdel-Sater MA, Soliman Zeinab SM 2016 -Biodiversity and molecular characterization of yeast and filamentous fungi in the air of citrus and grapevine plantations in Assiut area, Egypt. Mycosphere 7(3), 236-261, Doi 10.5943/mycosphere/7/3/1 AbstractA total of 218 species and 3 varieties belonging to 83 genera of filamentous and yeast fungi were recovered from the air of both citrus and grapevine plantations. A relatively higher numbers of genera and species were recovered from the air of citrus plantations compared with those recovered from grapevine plantations. The peak of total propagules of fungi caught from the air of citrus plantations was shown in February on both media and from the air of grapevine in December and August on DYM and DRBC, respectively. Their troughs were shown in June and October on DYM and DRBC, respectively for both citrus and grapevine plantations. The widest spectrum of species recovered from the air of citrus plantations was registered in June on both media and from the air of grapevine plantations in February and in April on DYM and DRBC, respectively. The air of citrus plantations shared the air of grapevine plantations in some highly encountered filamentous fungi on both media (Cladosporium, Penicillium, Aspergillus and Alternaria) or on one medium (Cochliobolus, Fusarium, Myrothecium, Phoma and Pleospora). Eighty-four fungal species were isolated from the air of citrus only, while 46 species were isolated from the air of grapevine only.Yeast fungi showed their peak of total propagules from the air of citrus plantations in October and April and from the air of grapevine plantations in June and December on DYM and DRBC, respectively. Fifteen genera and 26 species of yeasts were collected. Two genera of yeasts were encountered in high frequency on one medium and moderate or low on the other medium in the air of both citrus and grapevine plantations and these were Cryptoccocus (4 species) and Rhodotorula (3 species).

During surveys of the mycota inhabiting guts of insect species in Assiut area, Egypt, two interesting isolates were obtained from two different gut samples (out of 11 investigated) of the red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier). These isolates were identified phenotypically as Knoxdaviesia serotectus (≡ Gondwanamyces serotectus). The isolates were deposited in the Assiut University Mycological Centre Culture Collection and given AUMC numbers, AUMC 10299 and AUMC 10293. Brief descriptions and photos are presented. This species is recorded here for the first time worldwide from the gut of red palm weevils.

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During a survey of mycobiota inhabiting guts of red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) in Assiut area of Egypt, two interesting yeast isolates were obtained from 2 different gut samples (out of 11 gut samples investigated). Two isolates were identified phenotypically and genotypically with 87% ITS sequencing similarities with the type strain Reniforma strues. The name Reniforma rhynchophori was assigned for the new species. The two strains were deposited in Assiut University Mycological Centre Culture Collection and AUMC numbers 10263 T (as the type strain) and AUMC 10264 were given. The ITS gene sequences for AUMC 10263T & AUMC 10264 were also deposited at the National Center for Biotechnological Information (NCBI) and accession numbers are given as KX011609 and KX015891 respectively. Full description and photos of the new species are presented. This new species was recorded as the second species of the genus Reniforma.