- Volume 63, Issue Pt_3, 2013

A novel anamorphic yeast species is described to accommodate three isolates recovered from the guts of three different wood-boring insect larvae collected in Henan, central China. On the basis of sequence analyses of the D1/D2 domains of the large-subunit rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer regions, the three strains are assigned to a novel species of the genus Wickerhamomyces, although the formation of ascospores was not observed. These strains also exhibited a number of distinct morphological and physiological characteristics that clearly differentiated them from Wickerhamomyces mucosus, Candida odintsovae and Wickerhamomyces rabaulensis, the most closely related species. In view of the phenotypic differences and unique rRNA gene sequences, we consider that these three isolates represent a novel species of the genus Wickerhamomyces, Wickerhamomyces mori sp. nov. The type strain is NYNU 1216T ( = CICC 1983T  = CBS 12678T).

Three oligotrich ciliates, Apostrombidium parakielum spec. nov., Novistrombidium apsheronicum (Alekperov & Asadullayeva, 1997) Agatha, 2003 and Novistrombidium testaceum (Anigstein, 1914) Song & Bradbury, 1998 were collected from the coastal waters of China and their morphology and small-subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequences were studied. The novel species can be recognized by the combination of its obconical body shape, 14–16 anterior and 6–8 ventral membranelles, somatic kinety in three parts and conspicuously long dorsal cilia. Based on the data obtained for this novel species, an improved diagnosis of the genus Apostrombidium is supplied. Descriptions of the population of N. apsheronicum and N. testaceum collected in this study are also provided and compared with the existing descriptions. In addition, the phylogenetic positions of these three species are inferred from their SSU rRNA gene sequence data. The results indicate that the genus Apostrombidium, the systematics of which has not previously been discussed using molecular information, clusters with Varistrombidium kielum and Omegastrombidium elegans, whereas N. testaceum and N. apsheronicum form a single clade.

Yeasts of the genus Moniliella were isolated from 651 flower samples collected in Vietnam, using an enrichment medium containing 50 % glucose. Species of the genus Moniliella were found in 5 % of the samples and 54 strains were isolated. The strains were identified based on D1/D2 LSU rRNA gene sequences as M. megachiliensis (15 strains), M. dehoogii (14 strains), and M. mellis (2 strains). The remaining 23 strains could not be reliably placed under any known species. Among them, 12 strains isolated from flowers of Ipomoea pes-caprae and Calotropis gigantea were peculiar for the intensive formation of chlamydospores. These strains could be subdivided into pigmented and non-pigmented groups. Both groups were identical in PCR fingerprints generated with primer (GAC)5 and in D1/D2 and ITS sequences. The yeast was closely related to M. fonsecae but differed from the latter by 52 nt (or 10.3 % of divergence) in the D1/D2 sequence and 71 nt (or 16.9 % of divergence) in the ITS sequence. The name Moniliella byzovii sp. nov. is proposed for this novel species. The type strain is TBY 2041.7T = CBS 12757T = NRRL Y-63661T. The MycoBank number is MB 803186.

This paper investigates the morphology, infraciliature and small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene sequences of two hypotrichous ciliates, Neourostylopsis orientalis n. sp., and Protogastrostyla sterkii (Wallengren, 1900) n. comb. (basionym Gastrostyla sterkii), collected from coastal waters in southern China. Neourostylopsis orientalis n. sp. is diagnosed mainly by the arrangement of brownish cortical granules, the numbers of adoral membranelles and frontal and transverse cirri and the characteristics of its midventral cirral pairs. The SSU rRNA gene phylogeny strongly supports the establishment of the new genus Neourostylopsis n. gen., which is characterized mainly by the following features: frontal and transverse cirri clearly differentiated, buccal cirri present, two frontoterminal cirri, midventral complex composed of midventral pairs only and not exceeding the halfway point of the cell, more than one row of marginal cirri on each side which derive from individual anlagen within each parental row, caudal cirri lacking. Thus, two new combinations are required: Neourostylopsis songi (Lei et al., 2005) n. comb., and Neourostylopsis flavicana (Wang et al., 2011) n. comb. Additionally, improved diagnoses for both Metaurostylopsis and Apourostylopsis are supplied in this study. Protogastrostyla sterkii (Wallengren, 1900) n. comb. differs from the similar congener Protogastrostyla pulchra mainly in body shape, ratio of buccal field to body length in vivo and molecular data. Based on the present studies, we conclude that the estuarine population of P. pulchra collected by J. Gong and others [Gong et al., J Eukaryot Microbiol (2007) 54, 468–478] is a population of P. sterkii.