Research Features

FABIans Prof. Cobus VisagieDr Neriman Yilmaz and their collaborators have published a review of recently described Eurotiales species, including the economically important Aspergillus, Penicillium, Paecilomyces andTalaromyces. Of the 160 species reviewed, they accepted 133 species (37 Aspergillus, two Paecilomyces, 59 Penicillium, two Rasamsonia, 32 Talaromyces and one Xerochrysium), synonymised 22 species, classified four as doubtful and created a new combination for Paraxerochrysium coryli, which is classified in Xerochrysium. This brings the total number of accepted species to 453 for Aspergillus, 12 for Paecilomyces, 535 for Penicillium and 203 for Talaromyces. They also provide a new combination for Dichlaena lentisci (type species of the genus) which was cultured and sequenced for the first time thanks to its discovery on leaf material from Canada and Portugal by Drs Dave Malloch and Lothar Krieglsteiner. The xerophilic species was found identified as to represent a new section of Aspergillus subgenus Circumdati. The authors also discuss the trends observed in new species descriptions and make several recommendations on how these can be improved in the future. The study represents an important update of the accepted species lists in Eurotiales.

Read the full article here.