Exophiala atacamensis, sp. nov., and E. crusticola from the Atacama Desert, northern Chile

Abstract

In the course of a taxonomic survey on hyphomycetes from the Atacama Desert, four strains of slow-growing, cycloheximide-tolerant dematiaceous fungi were obtained from soil samples. These isolates presented a blastic conidiogenous apparatus and yeast-like budding cells typical of the genus Exophiala. DNA sequence analyses of the internal transcribed spacer region and partial large subunit ribosomal RNA gene revealed the presence of a novel species, Exophiala atacamensis, and a new record, E. crusticola. Exophiala atacamensis is phylogenetically distant from other members of Exophiala and is morphologically characterized by the production of annellidic conidiogenous cells, aseptate conidia in slimy masses, yeast-like budding cells, and abundant brown, meristematic, thick-walled bodies. This study reports E. crusticola for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere.