Cephalotrichum and related synnematous fungi with notes on species from the built environment

Abstract

A recent taxonomic revision of Microascaceae with an emphasis on synnematous fungi enabled re-identification of previously isolated indoor strains of Cephalotrichum. All available Cephalotrichum strains from the culture collection of the Westerdijk Institute were studied, 20 originating from the built environment. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from DNA sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 and intervening 5.8S nrDNA (ITS), and parts of β-tubulin (tub2) and translation elongation factor 1-α (tef1) genes. Additionally, herbarium material of 14 Cephalotrichum species described from soil in China was studied, and the taxonomy of C. album, not considered in recent revisions, was reevaluated. Sixteen phylogenetic species in Cephalotrichum are distinguished, five described as new species: C. domesticum, C. lignatile, C. telluricum, C. tenuissimum and C. transvaalense. Five Cephalotrichum species occur in the built environment: C. domesticum, C. gorgonifer (formerly known as Trichurus spiralis), C. microsporum, C. purpureofuscum, and C. verrucisporum. Based on the number of isolates, C. gorgonifer (nine strains) is the most common indoor species. The study of the Chinese herbarium material resulted in the acceptance of three additional Cephalotrichum species: C. casteneum, C. ellipsoideum, and C. spirale. Four species are considered nomena dubia (C. cylindrosporum, C. macrosporum, C. ovoideum, and C. robustum), five are placed in synonymy with other Cephalotrichum species (C. acutisporum, C. inflatum, C. longicollum, C. oblongum, C. terricola) and one species, C. verrucipes, is probably a synonym of Penicillium clavigerum. Cephalotrichum columnare, former Doratomyces columnaris, is transferred to Kernia. Cephalotrichum album, formerly known as Doratomyces putredinis, is transferred to Acaulium and redescribed.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 785– 867

“…Notes — The genus Acaulium was recently reinstated and segregated from Scopulariopsis (Sandoval-Denis et al 2016). Four species are currently accepted (Woudenberg et al 2017). Acaulium pannemaniae closely resembles Acaulium album .…”

Diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi in woodpecker nest cavities in southern Poland

“…The Microascaceae family includes many ecologically important species, comprising saprobic fungi mostly found in air, soil, plant material, and urban environment. Some species of the Microascaceae are opportunistic pathogens of animals, including humans [60][61][62][63][64][65]. The members of Microascaceae isolated from the woodpecker nest cavity represented species with different ecological roles and interactions.…”

Species Diversity in Penicillium and Acaulium From Herbivore Dung in China, and Description of Acaulium stericum Sp. Nov.

“…Acaulium has been considered a synonym of Scopulariopsis but recently was re-instated as an accepted genus of Microascaceae with three species as A. acremonium, A. albonigrescens and A. caviariforme (Sandoval-Denis et al 2016). Acaulium album is transferred to Acaulium and redescribed by Woudenberg et al (2017) based on morphological, physiological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. In addition, A. pannemaniae is introduced in this genus by morphological and phylogenetic analyses of LSU (Crous et al 2018).…”

“…Acaulium peruvianum and Acaulium retardatum based on morphological characters and multilocus phylogenetic analysis of the ITS, LSU, translation elongation factor 1α (TEF) and TUB genes by Su et al 2020. Seven species are currently accepted at present (Crous et al 2018;Woudenberg et al 2017;Su et al 2020).…”