Two novel members of Onygenales, Keratinophyton kautmanovae and K. keniense spp. nov. from soil

Abstract

Two new Keratinophyton species, K. kautmanovae sp. nov. and K. keniense sp. nov., isolated from soil samples originating from two different geographical and environmental locations (Africa and Europe) are described and illustrated. Phylogenetically informative sequences obtained from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the nuclear large subunit (LSU) rDNA, as well as their unique phenotype, fully support novelty of these two fungi for this genus. Based on ITS and LSU combined phylogeny, both taxa are resolved in a cluster with eight accepted species, including K. alvearium, K. chongqingense, K. hubeiense, K. durum, K. lemmensii, K. siglerae, K. submersum, and K. sichuanense. The new taxon, K. kautmanovae, is characterized by clavate, smooth to coarsely verrucose conidia, absence of arthroconidia, slow growth at 25 °C, and no growth at 30 °C, while K. keniense is morphologically unique with a high diversity of conidial shapes (clavate, filiform, globose, cymbiform and rhomboid). Both species are described based on their asexual, a chrysosporium-like morph. While the majority of hitherto described Keratinophyton taxa came from Europe, India and China, the new species K. keniense represents the first reported taxonomic novelty for this genus from Africa.