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Studies in Mycology logoLink to Studies in Mycology
. 2020 Mar 13;95:253–292. doi: 10.1016/j.simyco.2020.02.003

Updating the taxonomy of Aspergillus in South Africa

CM Visagie 1,2,, J Houbraken 3
PMCID: PMC7426233  PMID: 32855741

Abstract

The taxonomy and nomenclature of the genus Aspergillus and its associated sexual (teleomorphic) genera have been greatly stabilised over the last decade. This was in large thanks to the accepted species list published in 2014 and associated metadata such as DNA reference sequences released at the time. It had a great impact on the community and it has never been easier to identify, publish and describe the missing Aspergillus diversity. To further stabilise its taxonomy, it is crucial to not only discover and publish new species but also to capture infraspecies variation in the form of DNA sequences. This data will help to better characterise and distinguish existing species and make future identifications more robust. South Africa has diverse fungal communities but remains largely unexplored in terms of Aspergillus with very few sequences available for local strains. In this paper, we re-identify Aspergillus previously accessioned in the PPRI and MRC culture collections using modern taxonomic approaches. In the process, we re-identify strains to 63 species, describe seven new species and release a large number of new DNA reference sequences.

Key words: Beta-tubulin, DNA barcoding, Calmodulin, GCPSR, Multigene phylogenies, RPB2, Secondary identification markers

Taxonomic novelties: New species: Aspergillus elsenburgensis Visagie, S.M. Romero & Houbraken; Aspergillus heldtiae Visagie; Aspergillus krugeri Visagie; Aspergillus magaliesburgensis Visagie; Aspergillus purpureocrustaceus Visagie; Aspergillus seifertii Visagie & N. Yilmaz; Aspergillus sigurros Visagie

Introduction

Aspergillus is cosmopolitan fungi occurring on a wide range of substrates. Here they fulfil many different functions and have a wide-ranging influence on human and animal life. Even though most species occur as saprophytes living on dead organic material, various species have an (economic) impact on humans (Raper & Fennell 1965).

Human infections caused by Aspergillus are some of the most widely reported for all filamentous fungi (Gianni and Romano, 2004, Balajee et al., 2007). Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus and A. terreus attract special interest as human pathogens causing widespread aspergillosis (fungus ball) or bad allergies (Raper and Fennell, 1965, Steinbach et al., 2004, Sugui et al., 2012, de Hoog et al., 2014, Frisvad and Larsen, 2015b), while a much broader spectrum of species is known to cause less invasive and/or superficial infections (Kaur et al., 2000, Zotti and Corte, 2002, Hubka et al., 2012, de Hoog et al., 2014). Aspergillus causes widespread losses for agriculture where they spoil food or grow in agricultural produce, leading to mycotoxin contamination (Perrone et al., 2007, Pitt and Hocking, 2009, Samson et al., 2010, Frisvad and Larsen, 2015a). Aspergillus isolates produce three of the five agriculturally important mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, ochratoxins and fumonisins (Miller, 1995, Frisvad and Larsen, 2015a). The global cost of aflatoxin alone is huge and represents a major problem in developing countries where stunting in children is of major concern (Wu et al., 2008, Pitt et al., 2012, Wu, 2015). Aflatoxin is most commonly produced by A. flavus and A. parasiticus, but many other Aspergilli can produce this devastating mycotoxin. Ochratoxins are commonly produced by Aspergillus species classified in sections Circumdati and Nigri (Frisvad et al., 2004, Frisvad et al., 2011, Davolos et al., 2012, Visagie et al., 2014b), while some sect Nigri species can also produce fumonisins (Frisvad et al., 2011, Frisvad and Larsen, 2015a). On a more positive note, species have industrial applications as producers of enzymes, drugs, organic acids or are used in food fermentations. For example, A. oryzae (the domesticated form of A. flavus) is used in a koji fermentation important for the production of a wide variety of oriental foods (Raper and Fennell, 1965, Varga et al., 2000, Samson et al., 2010, Hong et al., 2013, Kim et al., 2014).

The taxonomy of Aspergillus and its nine associated sexual (or teleomorphic) genera has been greatly stabilised over the last decade. Based on a multigene phylogenetic study, Kocsube et al. (2016) confirmed that Aspergillus is monophyletic and sister to Penicillium as originally shown by Houbraken & Samson (2011). Furthermore, they showed that the genus can be subdivided into six subgenera and several sections, which to a large degree corresponds to associated sexual states. The nomenclatural review and “accepted species list” published by Samson et al. (2014) played a significant role in stabilizing the taxonomy of Aspergillus. It created an “open access” model in the sense that all metadata associated with species names, such as ex-type culture collection accession numbers, sectional classifications, MycoBank numbers and GenBank accession numbers to reference sequences generated from ex-type cultures, were released in the public domain. Calmodulin was proposed as a secondary identification marker to the formal, but rather conserved, ITS DNA barcode (Schoch et al. 2012). All the released data resulted in more reliable species identifications, and new species discovery and its subsequent description are easier and more accurate than ever. Almost anybody with a bit of background knowledge can describe their new species. As a result, the accepted species list grew with more than 100 taxa in the space of 5 years and resulted in the so-called “broad” Aspergillus that has mostly been accepted by the community (Pitt and Taylor, 2014, Pitt and Taylor, 2016, Samson et al., 2014, Kocsube et al., 2016, Samson et al., 2017).

South Africa has great fungal diversity and makes significant contributions to international understanding of a wide range of fungi. Aspergillus is very commonly isolated across South Africa and unlike Penicillium (Schutte 1992), local mycologists were not afraid to attempt identifications down to species level (Cohen, 1950, Swart, 1959, Eicker, 1969, Eicker, 1970a, Eicker, 1970b, Eicker, 1972, Eicker, 1973, Eicker, 1974, Eicker, 1976, Eicker, 1980, van der Merwe et al., 1979, Rabie and Lübben, 1984, Allsop et al., 1987, Watson et al., 1990, Schutte, 1994, Roux and van Warmelo, 1997). These identifications were all based on morphology, meaning that diversity could easily be misidentified due to the known complexities in distinguishing between closely related species without DNA sequence data. Considering the modern methods required to identify species (Samson et al. 2014), we consider Aspergillus to be grossly understudied in South Africa. To our knowledge, the only modern studies reported 23 species isolated from house dust (Visagie et al. 2014a) and seven species from abalone feed collected in the Western Cape (Greeff-Laubscher et al. 2018). The PPRI culture collection housed at the Agricultural Research Council – Plant Health and Protection, Roodeplaat, Pretoria is the biggest repository of Aspergillus in South Africa with close to 500 accessioned strains. The PPRI also houses the old MRC (Medical Research Council) culture collection that contains several Aspergillus. Strains from these collections mostly originate from agricultural sources, but plenty was sourced from environmental collection trips across the country. The aim of this project was to recover as many strains as possible and re-identify them using modern DNA sequencing approaches in order to obtain a baseline knowledge on the diversity of Aspergillus in the country. In this paper, we report on the diversity discovered, formally introduce seven new species and release a large number of valuable DNA reference sequences in the NCBI nucleotide sequence database (GenBank).

Materials & methods

Strains

Strains were recovered from the South African National Collection of Fungi (PPRI) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) collection, both housed at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC; Plant Health and Protection, Roodeplaat). New isolates were obtained during routine identification services provided at PPRI. These originate from a wide range of sources across the country and were deposited into a working collection (CMV) and PPRI. Isolations were made using potato dextrose agar (PDA) or dichloran 18 % glycerol agar (DG18; Oxoid CM0729). Strains and its collection data are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1.

Strains sequenced during the course of this project.

Species Strains1 Section Location collected / isolated, year Host GenBank nr
ITS BenA CaM RPB2
Aspergillus chevalieri PPRI13427 = CMV011F5 Aspergillus South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2013 Soil MK451336
A. chevalieri PPRI26000 = CMV003I3 Aspergillus South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK450979 MK451332
A. chevalieri PPRI26033 = CMV012H5 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Dog food MK451338
A. chevalieri PPRI26034 = CMV012H6 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Dog food MK451339
A. chevalieri PPRI26348 = CMV016E5 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2019 Dog food MN031422
A. chevalieri PPRI26554 = CMV016D7 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2019 Dog food MK951911
A. chevalieri PPRI3791 = CMV011B6 Aspergillus South Africa, 1986 MK451333
A. chevalieri PPRI4908 = CMV011B7 Aspergillus South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, 1993 Maize kernels (Zea mays) MK451334
A. chevalieri PPRI5410 = CMV012B1 Aspergillus South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1994 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK451337
A. chevalieri PPRI6331 = CMV011B9 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1996 Dried sausage MK451335
A. montevidensis CMV012H4 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Dog food MK451446
A. montevidensis MRC1250 = CMV017A6 Aspergillus South Africa, Western Cape, Ceres, 1975 Apple juice concentrate MK951923
A. montevidensis PPRI26035 = CMV012H7 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Dog food MK451447
A. montevidensis PPRI4851 = CMV011G2 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg, 1993 Air sample MK451445
A. montevidensis PPRI6330 = CMV011B8 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1996 Dried sausage MK451443
A. montevidensis PPRI8674 = CMV011C2 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg, 2007 Wheat (Triticum sp) MK451444
A. porosus PPRI3419a = CMV012A8 = CSIR980 Aspergillus South Africa, 1988 MK451494
A. porosus PPRI3419b = CMV012A9 = CSIR980 Aspergillus South Africa, 1988 MK451495
A. proliferans PPRI6735 = CMV011C1 Aspergillus South Africa, Mpumalanga, Piet Retief, 1988 Bee larvae (Apis mellifera) MK451496
A. pseudoglaucus MRC1231 = CMV017A3 Aspergillus South Africa, Western Cape, Elgin, 1975 Apple MK951920
A. pseudoglaucus MRC455 = CMV017E9 Aspergillus South Africa, unknown MN031425
A. pseudoglaucus MRC462 = CMV017A1 Aspergillus South Africa, Pretoria, unknown MK951918
A. pseudoglaucus PPRI26346 = CMV016D9 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2019 Dog food MK951912
A. zutongqii PPRI3429 = CMV011F7 Aspergillus South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1988 Lab contaminant MK451575
A. species PPRI6060 = CMV004E8 Candidi South Africa, Free State, Bloemfontein, 1995 Dung MK450633 MK451000 MK451330
A. tritici MRC3080 = CMV017B1 Candidi South Africa, Mpumalanga, 1982 Maize (Zea mays) MK951927
A. tritici MRC418 = CMV016I7 Candidi South Africa, North West Province, Brits, 1971 Sorghum malt MK951916
A. ochraceus PPRI26013 = CMV006D9 Circumdati South Africa, Western Cape, 2018 Wheat (Triticum sp) MK451474
A. ochraceus PPRI6335 = CMV007B6 Circumdati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, 1997 Cochecille insects MK451476
A. ochraceus PPRI6816 = CMV007B5 Circumdati South Africa, North West, Potchefstroom, 1999 Cowpea (Vigna ungiculata) MK451475
A. pallidofulvus CMV012D2 Circumdati South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK450639 MK451477
A. sclerotiorum PPRI8357 = CMV007B4 Circumdati South Africa, 2006 Rat food MK451507
A. westerdijkiae PPRI5061 = CMV007B2 Circumdati South Africa, Limpopo, Vaalwater, 1993 Chrysomelid beetle MK451571
A. westerdijkiae PPRI8700 = CMV007B7 Circumdati South Africa, Limpopo , Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane twigs and leaves (Colophospermum mopane) MK451572
A. clavatus PPRI13831 = CMV008F4 Clavati South Africa, Gauteng, Bapsfontein, 2014 Barley seedling (Hordeum vulgare) MK451347
A. clavatus PPRI13832 = CMV005I8 Clavati South Africa, Gauteng, Bapsfontein, 2014 Barley seedling (Hordeum vulgare) MK451344
A. clavatus PPRI14650 = CMV005I9 Clavati South Africa, North Weat, Potchefstroom, 2014 Animal feed MK451345
A. clavatus PPRI17069 = CMV001F9 Clavati South Africa, Gauteng, Near Delmas, 2014 Animal feed, maize kernels MK451341
A. clavatus PPRI21896 = CMV006A1 Clavati South Africa, Western Cape, Malmesbury, 2016 Barley sprouted seed (Hordeum vulgare) MK451346
A. clavatus PPRI26042 = CMV013A3 Clavati South Africa, 2018 Dragon fruit plant MK451349
A. clavatus PPRI26045 = CMV013B4 Clavati Swaziland, 2018 Pig feed MK451351
A. clavatus PPRI26493 = CMV013A9 Clavati Swaziland, 2018 Pig feed MK951883
A. clavatus PPRI26495 = CMV013B2 Clavati Swaziland, 2018 Pig feed MK451350
A. clavatus PPRI4976 = CMV010D7 Clavati South Africa, Gauteng, Magaliesburg, 1994 Soil MK451348
A. clavatus PPRI8552 = CMV005I6 Clavati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Lydenburg, 2007 Sunflower seed (Helianthus annuus) MK451342
A. clavatus PPRI9818 = CMV005I7 Clavati South Africa, Free State, 2008 Sunflower soil MK451343
A. giganteus MRC453 = CMV016I9 Clavati South Africa, Pretoria, unknown MN031424
A. giganteus PPRI26019 = CMV008C9 Clavati South Africa, Limpopo, 2018 Chicken feed MK450637 MK451147 MK451418
A. seifertii PPRI26025 = CMV011E3 Clavati South Africa, Free State, Golden Gate, unknown Soil MK450648 MK451205 MK451510 MK450801
A. seifertii PPRI3211 = CMV006F5 (ex-type) Clavati South Africa, Free State, Golden Gate, 1988 Grassroots MK450647 MK451093 MK451509 MK450800
A. dimorphicus CMV012C9 Cremei South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK450634 MK451246 MK451357
A. dimorphicus PPRI26031 = CMV012G4 Cremei South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK450646 MK451263 MK451508 MK450799
A. wentii PPRI25999 = CMV003I2 Cremei South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451569
A. wentii PPRI26048 = CMV013F6 Cremei South Africa, Mpumalanga, Barberton, 2018 Wood in mine MK451570
A. wentii PPRI26349 = CMV016E7 Cremei South Africa, Mpumalanga, Barberton, 2018 Wood in mine MK951914
A. alliaceus PPRI6826 = CMV007B1 Flavi South Africa, Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth, 1999 Moth larvae (Cryptophlebia leucotreta) MK451307
A. flavus CMV015C6 = 2019-M44 Flavi South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951894
A. flavus CMV015C7 = 2019-M44 Flavi South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951895
A. flavus CMV015C9 = 2019-M44 Flavi South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951896
A. flavus MRC1317 = CMV017A2 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Somerset West, 1977 Lemon (Citrus limon) MK951919
A. flavus MRC1366 = CMV017A7 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Ceres, 1978 Maize (Zea mays), pathotoxicity to sheep MK951924
A. flavus MRC1745 = CMV017A8 Flavi South Africa, North West Province, Potchefstroom, 1979 Sorghum malt MK951925
A. flavus MRC2526 = CMV017A9 Flavi South Africa, unknown Biltong MK951926
A. flavus MRC3732 = CMV017B3 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Ceres, 1984 Apple MK951929
A. flavus MRC6979 = CMV017B5 Flavi South Africa, Mpumalanga, Kruger National Park, unknown Soil MK951931
A. flavus PPRI13141 = CMV002B4 Flavi South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, unknown Maize (Zea mays) MK451376
A. flavus PPRI18143 = CMV001I2 Flavi South Africa, 2015 Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) MK451365
A. flavus PPRI18144 = CMV001I8 Flavi South Africa, 2015 Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) MK451370
A. flavus PPRI18161 = CMV002B3 Flavi South Africa, Free State, Bethlehem, 2015 Wheat (Triticum sp) MK451375
A. flavus PPRI18711 = CMV001I4 Flavi South Africa, Northwest, Sannieshof, 2015 Frass of moth (Busseola fusca) feeding inside maize stems MK451367
A. flavus PPRI18712 = CMV001I5 Flavi South Africa, Northwest, Sannieshof, 2015 Frass of moth (Busseola fusca) feeding inside maize stems MK451368
A. flavus PPRI18713 = CMV001I9 Flavi South Africa, Northwest, Coligny, 2015 Frass of moth (Busseola fusca) feeding inside maize stems MK451371
A. flavus PPRI18714 = CMV001I1 Flavi South Africa, Northwest, Coligny, 2015 Frass of moth (Busseola fusca) feeding inside maize stems MK451364
A. flavus PPRI18715 = CMV001I6 Flavi South Africa, Northwest, Coligny, 2015 Frass of moth (Busseola fusca) feeding inside maize stems MK451369
A. flavus PPRI20581 = CMV002B1 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Grabouw, 2015 Insect MK451374
A. flavus PPRI22482 = CMV001I3 Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, Atlanta, 2016 Soya beans (Glycine max) MK451366
A. flavus PPRI23389 = CMV002A1 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Stellenbosch, 2016 Animal feed MK451372
A. flavus PPRI25992 = CMV003A4 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna, 2017 Hominy chop animal feed MK451379
A. flavus PPRI26001 = CMV003I5 Flavi South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451380
A. flavus PPRI26002 = CMV003I6 Flavi South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451381
A. flavus PPRI26003 = CMV003I7 Flavi South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451382
A. flavus PPRI26004 = CMV003I8 Flavi South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451383
A. flavus PPRI26007 = CMV005E1 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Sunninghill, 2017 Groundnut MK451384
A. flavus PPRI26022 = CMV008E3 Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, 2018 Chicken feed MK451385
A. flavus PPRI26032 = CMV012H1 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Dog food MK451387
A. flavus PPRI26036 = CMV012H8 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Dog food MK451388
A. flavus PPRI26044 = CMV013B3 Flavi Swaziland, 2018 Pig feed MK451389
A. flavus PPRI26345 = CMV016D6 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2019 Dog food MK951910
A. flavus PPRI26347 = CMV016E4 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2019 Dog food MK951913
A. flavus PPRI26486 = CMV010D4 Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2015 Soil MK451386
A. flavus PPRI3274 = CMV002A5 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1988 MK451373
A. flavus PPRI7977 = CMV002B5 Flavi South Africa, 2005 MK451377
A. flavus PPRI8551 = CMV002B7 Flavi South Africa, Mpumalanga, Lydenburg, 2007 Maize (Zea mays) MK451378
A. krugeri PPRI8986 = CMV006G4 (ex-type) Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane debris (Colophospermum mopane) MK450655 MK451098 MK451517 MK450808
A. krugeri PPRI9280 = CMV002C8 Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane debris (Colophospermum mopane) MK450654 MK450928 MK451516 MK450807
A. magaliesburgensis PPRI6165 = CMV007A3 (ex-type) Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Magaliesburg, 1996 Antlion (Myrmeleontidae) MK450649 MK451116 MK451511 MK450802
A. nomius PPRI3753 = CMV002B2 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Rietondale, 1989 Termites dead colony MK450926 MK451473
A. parasiticus PPRI14636 = CMV001H8 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Bapsfontein, 2014 Spawnrun on grass MK451478
A. parasiticus PPRI14642 = CMV001H9 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Bapsfontein, 2014 Spawnrun on grass MK451479
A. parasiticus PPRI23021 = CMV002C7 Flavi South Africa, Dinaka game reserve, 2016 Animal feed MK451483
A. parasiticus PPRI26046 = CMV013B6 Flavi Zambia, Mpangwe, Mpangwe, 2018 Wheat (Triticum sp) MK451489
A. parasiticus PPRI2885 = CMV007A7 Flavi South Africa, 1990 Seed (Watsonin marginata) MK451487
A. parasiticus PPRI3754 = CMV007A5 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1989 Termites MK451485
A. parasiticus PPRI5183 = CMV007A6 Flavi South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1993 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK451486
A. parasiticus PPRI7978 = CMV010B6 Flavi South Africa, 2005 MK451488
A. parasiticus PPRI9511 = CMV002B8 Flavi South Africa, North West , 2008 Soil MK451480
A. parasiticus PPRI9513 = CMV002G1 Flavi South Africa, North West , 2008 Soil MK451484
A. parasiticus PPRI9532 = CMV002C1 Flavi South Africa, North West , 2008 Soil MK451481
A. parasiticus PPRI9534 = CMV002C2 Flavi South Africa, North West , 2008 Soil MK451482
A. pseudonomius PPRI5063 = CMV002B6 Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, Vaalwater, 1992 Chrysomelid beetle MK451505
A. tamarii PPRI26008 = CMV005E2 Flavi South Africa, Gauteng, Sunninghill, 2017 Groundnut MK451528
A. tamarii PPRI26010 = CMV005E4 Flavi South Africa, 2017 Soil MK451529
A. tamarii PPRI26023 = CMV008E4 Flavi South Africa, Limpopo, 2018 Chicken feed MK451531
A. tamarii PPRI2812 = CMV003E1 Flavi South Africa, 1991 Soya beans (Glycine max) MK451527
A. tamarii PPRI7392 = CMV007B3 Flavi South Africa, 2004 MK451530
A. transmontanensis PPRI14275 = CMV011A5 Flavi Zambia, 2013 Soil MK450657 MK451183 MK451519 MK450810
A. iizukae PPRI4965 = CMV007B8 Flavipedes South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1993 Chrysomelid beetle MK451428
A. arcoverdensis PPRI7491 = CMV003C4 Fumigati South Africa, 2004 MK451311
A. arcoverdensis PPRI7514 = CMV003C3 Fumigati South Africa, 2004 MK451310
A. aureolus PPRI11297 = CMV008A9 Fumigati South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, Pinetown, 2011 Air sample MK451321
A. aureolus PPRI3451 = CMV011F8 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451322
A. elsenburgensis DTO015G7 Fumigati Argentina, La Pampa Province, Chacharramendi Soil MT110301 MT108410 MT108412
A. elsenburgensis DTO380H5 Fumigati Argentina, Catamarca Province Soil MT108411 MT108413
A. elsenburgensis DTO381D3 Fumigati Argentina, Catamarca Province Soil MT108414
A. elsenburgensis DTO381D8 Fumigati Argentina Soil MT110302 MT108415
A. elsenburgensis PPRI2994 = CMV011G4 = CSIR1013 (ex-type) Fumigati South Africa, Western Cape, Elsenburg, 1986 Soil MK450651 MK451215 MK451513 MK450804
A. fischeri PPRI26026 = CMV011H6 Fumigati South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2018 Lab contaminant MK451359
A. fischeri PPRI3418 = CMV012A7 = CSIR978 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451363
A. fischeri PPRI3428 = CMV011I5 = CSIR990 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451361
A. fischeri PPRI3488 = CMV012A6 = CSIR1039 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451362
A. fischeri PPRI4507 = CMV011I4 = CSIR1094 Fumigati South Africa, Eastern Cape, Butterworth, 1986 Soil MK451360
A. fumigatiaffinis PPRI13089 = CMV001G1 Fumigati South Africa, Succulent karoo area , unknown Soil MK450636 MK450913 MK451390
A. fumigatiaffinis PPRI13090 = CMV010I7 Fumigati South Africa, Succulent karoo area , unknown Soil MK451392
A. fumigatiaffinis PPRI3210 = CMV004C3 Fumigati South Africa, Western Cape, Beaufort West, 1988 Grass MK451391
A. fumigatus CMV015C1 = 2019-M44 Fumigati South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951890
A. fumigatus CMV015C2 = 2019-M44 Fumigati South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951891
A. fumigatus CMV015C3 = 2019-M44 Fumigati South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951892
A. fumigatus CMV015C5 = 2019-M44 Fumigati South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951893
A. fumigatus CMV015D8 = 2019-M44 Fumigati South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951904
A. fumigatus CMV015D9 = 2019-M44 Fumigati South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951905
A. fumigatus MRC435 = CMV016I8 Fumigati South Africa, Port Health, 1971 Rice MK951917
A. fumigatus PPRI10161 = CMV002G6 Fumigati South Africa, Eastern Cape, 2009 Silage MK451396
A. fumigatus PPRI10162 = CMV002G2 Fumigati South Africa, Eastern Cape, 2009 Silage MK451393
A. fumigatus PPRI10498 = CMV003D5 Fumigati South Africa, Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth, 2010 Maize silage (Zea mays) MK451406
A. fumigatus PPRI10499 = CMV002G5 Fumigati South Africa, Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth, 2010 Maize silage (Zea mays) MK451395
A. fumigatus PPRI12665 = CMV002G3 Fumigati South Africa, Free State, Luchhof, 2012 Rye seed (Secale cereale) MK451394
A. fumigatus PPRI13084 = CMV002G7 Fumigati South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2013 Pear MK451397
A. fumigatus PPRI13252 = CMV003D6 Fumigati South Africa, 2013 MK451407
A. fumigatus PPRI20934 = CMV008B7 Fumigati South Africa, 2016 MK451141 MK451412
A. fumigatus PPRI25993 = CMV003A5 Fumigati South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna, 2017 Hominy chop animal feed MK451398
A. fumigatus PPRI25998 = CMV003H8 Fumigati South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451409
A. fumigatus PPRI26006 = CMV005D8 Fumigati South Africa, Gauteng, Bedfordview, 2018 Potting soil MK451411
A. fumigatus PPRI3283 = CMV003C6 Fumigati South Africa, North West, Pella, 1993 Soil MK451399
A. fumigatus PPRI3478 = CMV004C2 Fumigati South Africa, Gauteng, Bapsfontein, 1988 Straw MK451410
A. fumigatus PPRI3479 = CMV003C7 Fumigati South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg, 1988 Compost MK451400
A. fumigatus PPRI3505 = CMV010B9 Fumigati South Africa, Gauteng, Denneboom, 1987 Pine MK451153 MK451416
A. fumigatus PPRI4975 = CMV003C8 Fumigati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Malelane, 1993 Bagasse MK451401
A. fumigatus PPRI5090 = CMV003H1 Fumigati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Malelane, 1993 Decayed mineola MK450976 MK451408
A. fumigatus PPRI7394 = CMV003C9 Fumigati South Africa, 2004 MK451402
A. fumigatus PPRI8522 = CMV003D1 Fumigati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Vlakfontein, 2006 Chickens (Gallus domesticus) MK451403
A. fumigatus PPRI8523 = CMV003D2 Fumigati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Vlakfontein, 2006 Chickens (Gallus domesticus) MK451404
A. fumigatus PPRI8525 = CMV008F9 Fumigati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Vlakfontein, 2006 Chickens (Gallus domesticus) MK451414
A. fumigatus PPRI8527 = CMV008G1 Fumigati South Africa, Mpumalanga, Vlakfontein, 2006 Chickens (Gallus domesticus) MK451415
A. fumigatus PPRI8558 = CMV003D3 Fumigati South Africa, 2007 Chickens (Gallus domesticus) MK451405
A. fumigatus PPRI8560 = CMV008F8 Fumigati South Africa, 2007 Chickens (Gallus domesticus) MK451413
A. hiratsukae PPRI3260 = CMV012G1 = CSIR1064 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451422
A. hiratsukae PPRI9172 = CMV008F5 Fumigati South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK451421
A. hiratsukae PPRI9185 = CMV004E7 Fumigati South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK451420
A. hiratsukae PPRI9190 = CMV004E4 Fumigati South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane twigs and leaves (Colophospermum mopane) MK451419
A. laciniosus PPRI3197 = CMV011I6 = CSIR1050 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451440
A. laciniosus PPRI3247 = CMV011G5 Fumigati South Africa, North West, Pella, 1988 MK451216 MK451439
A. laciniosus PPRI3417 = CMV010F8 = CSIR638 Fumigati South Africa, 1988 MK451163 MK451437
A. laciniosus PPRI3847 = CMV011F6 Fumigati South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, Greytown, 1985 Maize kernels (Zea mays) MK451438
A. lentulus PPRI6170 = CMV007I3 Fumigati South Africa, Northern Cape, Loffiesdraai, 1996 Sand MK451134 MK451442
A. lentulus PPRI7532 = CMV003C5 Fumigati South Africa, 2004 MK450952 MK451441
A. udagawae PPRI11324 = CMV010I9 Fumigati South Africa, Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth, 2011 Mealy bug on Citrus MK451179 MK451543
A. udagawae PPRI26030 = CMV012F7 Fumigati South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK451259 MK451544
A. wyomingensis PPRI5178 = CMV007I4 Fumigati South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1993 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK451574
A. wyomingensis PPRI5573 = CMV007I2 Fumigati South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1994 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK451573
A. amoenus PPRI26021 = CMV008E2 Nidulantes South Africa, Limpopo, 2018 Chicken feed MK451308
A. amoenus PPRI26047 = CMV013F4 Nidulantes South Africa, Mpumalanga, Barberton, 2018 Wood in mine MK451309
A. creber PPRI13168 = CMV002A9 Nidulantes South Africa, North West, Mafikeng, 2013 Chicken house bedding MK451352
A. creber PPRI3737 = CMV002G9 Nidulantes South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 1989 Orange (Citrus sinensis) MK451353
A. creber PPRI3869 = CMV011F9 Nidulantes South Africa, Free State, Bloemfontein, 1990 Honey flower seed (Melianthus comosus) MK451356
A. creber PPRI5081 = CMV002H1 Nidulantes South Africa, Mpumalanga, Hazyview, 1993 Lemon (Citrus limon) MK451354
A. creber PPRI9900 = CMV008C2 Nidulantes South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, Pinetown, 2008 MK451355
A. jensenii PPRI13238 = CMV001F7 Nidulantes South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2013 Environmental sample MK451433
A. jensenii PPRI2806 = CMV011G1 Nidulantes South Africa, 1991 MK451436
A. jensenii PPRI5384 = CMV007A9 Nidulantes South Africa, 1993 Flower (Gladiolus corms) MK451435
A. jensenii PPRI6329 = CMV003H2 Nidulantes South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, 1996 Contaminant bioproduct MK450977 MK451434
A. nidulans PPRI20935 = CMV010I1 Nidulantes South Africa, 2016 MK451456
A. protuberus PPRI26350 = CMV016F8 Nidulantes South Africa, Mpumalanga, Barberton, 2018 Wood in mine MK951915
A. protuberus PPRI5575 = CMV008B2 Nidulantes South Africa, 1994 Diesel fuel filters MK451497
A. purpureocrustaceus PPRI3840 = CMV008B3 (ex-type) Nidulantes South Africa, Limpopo, 1990 Plant debris MK450653 MK451138 MK451515 MK450806
A. purpureocrustaceus PPRI5548 = CMV008B1 Nidulantes South Africa, Western Cape, Cape Town, 1994 Spider (Palystes castaneus) MK450652 MK451137 MK451514 MK450805
A. quadrilineatus PPRI26342 = CMV015B3 Nidulantes South Africa, Mpumalanga, Marble Hall, 2019 MK951887
A. recurvatus PPRI3165 = CMV010C4 Nidulantes South Africa, 1988 MK450645 MK451157 MK451506
A. rugulosus MRC3329 = CMV017B2 Nidulantes South Africa, Free State, Clocolan, 1983 Oats MK951928
A. sydowii CMV008E1 = 2018-M76/352 Nidulantes South Africa, Limpopo, 2018 Chicken feed MK451524
A. sydowii CMV015B9 = 2019-M44 Nidulantes South Africa, 2019 Wood pallet MK951889
A. sydowii PPRI12668 = CMV008C6 Nidulantes South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2012 Environmental sample MK451523
A. sydowii PPRI13067 = CMV008B4 Nidulantes South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2012 Environmental sample MK451521
A. sydowii PPRI13241 = CMV001D6 Nidulantes South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2013 Environmental sample MK451520
A. sydowii PPRI3810 = CMV008F1 Nidulantes South Africa, Free State, Bloemfontein, 1990 Honey flower seed (Melianthus comosus) MK451525
A. sydowii PPRI3839 = CMV008F2 Nidulantes South Africa, 1990 Watsonia marginata MK451526
A. sydowii PPRI6542 = CMV008C5 Nidulantes South Africa, Kwazulu Natal, Pinetown, 1997 Lab shelf MK451522
A. alabamensis PPRI25994 = CMV003A6 Terrei South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna, 2017 Hominy chop animal feed MK450947 MK451300 MK450758
A. alabamensis PPRI25996 = CMV003A9 Terrei South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna, 2017 Hominy chop animal feed MK450948 MK451301 MK450759
A. alabamensis PPRI26028 = CMV012E2 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK451299
A. aureoterreus PPRI13096 = CMV010F6 Terrei South Africa, Succulent karoo area , unknown Soil MK451161 MK451323 MK450772
A. carneus PPRI13094 = CMV010F7 Terrei South Africa, Succulent karoo area , unknown Soil MK451162 MK451331 MK450778
A. cf alabamensis PPRI7492 = CMV004A7 Terrei South Africa, 2004 MK450983 MK451312 MK450765
A. cf alabamensis PPRI8696 = CMV004D7 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo , Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK450993 MK451318 MK450770
A. cf alabamensis PPRI8741 = CMV004C9 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK450990 MK451315 MK450768
A. cf alabamensis PPRI8747 = CMV004D2 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK450991 MK451316 MK450769
A. cf alabamensis PPRI8979 = CMV004D5 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK450992 MK451317
A. cf alabamensis PPRI9150 = CMV004C8 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane debris (Colophospermum mopane) MK450989 MK451314 MK450767
A. cf alabamensis PPRI9184 = CMV004C7 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK450988 MK451313 MK450766
A. cf alabamensis PPRI9189 = CMV004E1 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane twigs and leaves (Colophospermum mopane) MK450995 MK451320
A. cf alabamensis PPRI9206 = CMV004D9 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane twigs and leaves (Colophospermum mopane) MK450994 MK451319 MK450771
A. cf allahabadii PPRI5574 = CMV004C1 Terrei South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1994 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK450987 MK451302 MK450760
A. cf allahabadii PPRI7534 = CMV004E6 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2003 Soil MK450999 MK451306 MK450764
A. cf allahabadii PPRI8751 = CMV004E3 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK450629 MK450997 MK451304 MK450762
A. cf allahabadii PPRI8987 = CMV004E2 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane debris (Colophospermum mopane) MK450628 MK450996 MK451303 MK450761
A. cf allahabadii PPRI9194 = CMV004E5 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane debris (Colophospermum mopane) MK450998 MK451305 MK450763
A. citrinoterreus PPRI7464 = CMV004A6 Terrei South Africa, North West, Welwitschia, 2004 MK451340
A. heldtiae PPRI4229 = CMV004A2 (ex-type) Terrei South Africa, 1991 Millet seed MK450656 MK450981 MK451518 MK450809
A. hortai PPRI25995 = CMV003A8 Terrei South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna, 2017 Hominy chop animal feed MK451423
A. hortai PPRI5864 = CMV004A5 Terrei South Africa, Gauteng, Onderstepoort, 1995 Animal tissue MK451424
A. hortai PPRI7533 = CMV004A9 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2003 Soil MK450985 MK451425
A. hortai PPRI8707 = CMV004C5 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo , Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane (Colophospermum mopane) MK451427
A. hortai PPRI9902 = CMV004B1 Terrei South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2008 Industrial food colourant MK451426
A. species CBS142751 PPRI9903 = CMV004A8 Terrei South Africa, Gauteng, Pretoria, 2008 Industrial food colourant MK450635 MK450984 MK451358
A. terreus PPRI10373 = CMV007A8 Terrei South Africa, Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth, 2010 Maize silage (Zea mays) MK451535
A. terreus PPRI13086 = CMV011A4 Terrei South Africa, Succulent karoo area , unknown Soil MK451537
A. terreus PPRI20932 = CMV004B3 Terrei South Africa, 2016 MK451533
A. terreus PPRI25997 = CMV003H4 Terrei South Africa, 2017 Animal feed MK451532
A. terreus PPRI26027 = CMV012E1 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK451538
A. terreus PPRI26029 = CMV012E3 Terrei South Africa, Limpopo, Groblersdal, 2018 Soil MK451539
A. terreus PPRI8282 = CMV010F9 Terrei South Africa, 2006 MK451536
A. terreus PPRI8672 = CMV004B9 Terrei South Africa, 2007 Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) MK451534
A. calidoustus PPRI15353 = CMV006B3 Usti South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2014 MK451329
A. insuetus MRC5597 = CMV017B4 Usti South Africa, Western Cape, Cape Town, unknown Direct scraping off Castle wall MK951930
A. insuetus PPRI3456 = CMV006F8 Usti South Africa, 1988 Grass MK451429
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI5177a = CMV006F9 Usti South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1993 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK450644 MK451096 MK451503
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI5177b = CMV010G3 Usti South Africa, Western Cape, Clanwilliam, 1993 Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) MK451504
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI8971 = CMV005H9 Usti South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane debris (Colophospermum mopane) MK450642 MK451064 MK451498
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI8976 = CMV005I1 Usti South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK451499
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI9168 = CMV006A6 Usti South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2008 Mopane twigs and leaves (Colophospermum mopane) MK451502
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI9203 = CMV005I2 Usti South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Mopane twigs and leaves (Colophospermum mopane) MK450643 MK451065 MK451500
A. pseudodeflectus PPRI9404 = CMV005I3 Usti South Africa, Limpopo, Kruger National Park, 2005 Soil MK451501
A. pseudoustus MRC1233 = CMV017A5 Usti South Africa, Western Cape, Drakenstein, 1975 Apple juice concentrate MK951922
A. pseudoustus MRC1234 = CMV017A4 Usti South Africa, Western Cape, Drakenstein, 1975 Apple juice concentrate MK951921
A. sigurros PPRI15889 = CMV005I4 (ex-type) Usti South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, 2014 Environmental sample MK450650 MK451066 MK451512 MK450803
1

Acronyms of culture collections: PPRI, culture collection of the National Collections of Fungi, housed at the Agricultural Research Council - Plant Health and Protection (ARC), Roodeplaat, South Africa; MRC, culture collection of the Medical Research Council housed at PPRI; CSIR, culture collection of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; CMV, working collection housed at the PPRI; DTO, working collection of the Applied and Industrial Mycology group housed the Westerdijk Institute, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

DNA extraction, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis

DNA was extracted from 7 d old colonies grown on Blakeslee’s (1915) malt extract agar (MEAbl) using the Quick-DNATM Fungal/Bacterial Miniprep Kit (Zymo Research, CA, USA). The 5.8S rDNA internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS), beta-tubulin (BenA), calmodulin (CaM) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) genes were amplified in a 25 μl PCR master mix containing 12.5 μl OneTaq® 2X Master Mix with GC Buffer (New England Biolabsinc, MA, USA), 0.5 μl for each primer (10 μM), 10.5 μl milliQ H2O, and 1 μl template DNA. PCR conditions and primers were used as suggested by Samson et al. (2014). Automated sequencing was done at Inqaba Biotechnical Industries (Pty) Ltd (Pretoria, South Africa) using the same primers used for PCR amplification. For RPB2, additional sequencing reactions were performed with internal sequencing primers RPB2-527R (Peterson 2008), RPB2-388F (Peterson 2008), RPB2-F311 (Houbraken & Samson 2011) and RPB2-R310 (Houbraken & Samson 2011).

Contigs were assembled and edited in Geneious Prime v. 2019.2.1 (BioMatters Ltd., Auckland, New Zealand), and new sequences deposited to GenBank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/). Accession numbers are listed in Table 1. Sequences were compared to a locally curated reference sequence dataset based on the ex-type sequences published in Samson et al. (2014). Preliminary identifications were made using this dataset in a local BLAST search tool in Geneious. Subsequent reference sequences were selected (Supplementary Table 1) based on these results, with GenBank accession numbers also shown on phylogenetic trees.

All datasets were aligned in MAFFT v. 7.427 (Katoh & Standley 2013) selecting the G-INS-I option, with alignments manually trimmed, adjusted and concatenated in Geneious where needed or appropriate. Aligned datasets were analysed using Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian tree Inference (BI). For concatenated phylogenies, each gene was treated as separate partitions. ML was performed using IQtree v. 1.6.11 (Nguyen et al. 2015). For each dataset or partition, the most suitable model was calculated using Modelfinder (Kalyaanamoorthy et al. 2017) and ultrafast bootstrapping approximation done using UFBoot2 (Hoang et al. 2018), both integrated into IQtree. BI was performed using MrBayes v. 3.2.7 (Ronquist et al. 2012). The most suitable model for each dataset or partition was selected based on the Akaike information criterion (Akaike 1974) using MrModeltest v. 2.4 (Nylander 2004). Analyses were performed with three sets of four chains (1 cold and three heated) and were stopped at an average standard deviation for split frequencies of 0.01 using the stoprule. Trees were visualised in Figtree v. 1.4.4 (https://github.com/rambaut/figtree/releases) and visually prepared for publication in Affinity Designer v. 1.7.1 (Serif (Europe) Ltd, Nottingham, UK). ML and BI tree topologies did not differ, and thus the former was chosen to present results with both boostrap values and posterior probabilities shown for supported branches.

Several phylogenetic analyses were prepared. Firstly, a total phylogeny based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 sequence data was calculated which covered all sections detected in this study. Secondly, smaller datasets were prepared based on observed relationships, which allowed for more reliable alignments and more presentable trees. Thirdly, single gene trees were calculated in the case of putative new species to apply the genealogical concordance phylogenetic species recognition concept (GCPSR) (Taylor et al. 2000).

Morphology

Morphological characterisation and species descriptions were made using standardised protocols published in Samson et al. (2014). Colony characters were captured on Czapek yeast autolysate agar (CYA), CYA with 5 % NaCl (CYAS), DG18, MEAbl (Oxoid LP0039 malt extract, Oxoid LP0034 peptone), MEA (Samson et al. 2010), oatmeal agar (OA), yeast extract sucrose agar (YES) and creatine sucrose agar (CREA). Strains were three-point inoculated on these media in 90 mm Petri dishes. Plates were incubated in darkness for 7 d at 25 °C, with additional CYA plates incubated at 30 and 37 °C. Colour names and codes used in descriptions follow Kornerup & Wanscher (1967). Microscopic observations were made using a Zeiss AXIO Imager.M2 compound and Zeiss AXIO Zoom.V16 microscopes equipped with AxioCaM MRc5 and 512 cameras driven by Zen Blue v. 2.3 software (Carl Zeiss CMP GmbH, Göttingen, Germany). Colonies were captured with a Sony NEX-5N camera. Extended Depth of Field analysis and stacking of colony texture micrographs were performed in Helicon Focus v. 7.5.4 (HeliconSoft, Kharkiv, Ukraine). Plates were prepared in Affinity Photo v. 1.7.1 (Serif (Europe) Ltd, Nottingham, UK). For aesthetic purposes, micrographs were adjusted using the "inpainting brush tool" without altering areas of scientific significance.

Results

Strains

Of the ±320 PPRI strains selected for this study, ±250 were viable with 218 selected for sequencing. Eighteen MRC strains were sequenced. New isolations resulted in 65 strains, of which 51 were deposited in PPRI. DNA reference sequences (350 total: 24 ITS, 52 BenA, 250 CaM, 28 RPB2) were generated and submitted to GenBank during this study. Identified strains belonged to 63 species, representing 11 sections of Aspergillus. Seven of the species were found to be novel species and are described below in the Taxonomy section.

Phylogeny

For a general overview of results, a total phylogeny was calculated including all sequences generated during this study and reference sequences summarised in Supplementary Table 1. Results were summarised as a circular tree (Supplementary Fig. 1) and subsequently used as a baseline to calculate more focused phylogenies used to confirm final identifications and show relationships of the novel species.

Sections Aspergillus and Cremei (Fig. 1) — We identified six section Aspergillus species including A. chevalieri, A. montevidensis, A. porosus, A. proliferans, A. pseudoglaucus and A. zutongqii. This section was reviewed recently and two recently described species A. porosus and A. zutongqii are detected here (Chen et al. 2017). From section Cremei, we identified A. wentii and A. dimorphicus. Aspergillus dimorphicus and A. sepultus are phylogenetically identical. Since A. dimorphicus (Mehrotra & Prasad 1969) is the older name, A. sepultus (Tuthill & Christensen 1986) is synonymised with the former.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Aspergillus and Cremei based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains identified during this study are shown in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Sections Candidi and Circumdati (Fig. 2) — In section Candidi, only two species were identified. One strain represented A. tritici, while PPRI6060 resolved in a unique clade closely related to A. subalbidus, which represents a new species that will be described in a different paper. Section Circumdati typically contains ochratoxin A producing species (Visagie et al., 2014b, Frisvad and Larsen, 2015a). Our study respectively identified strains as A. ochraceus, A. pallidofulvus, A. sclerotiorum and A. westerdijkiae.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Circumdati and Candidi based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains identified during this study are shown in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Section Flavi (Fig. 3) — Among strains identified during this study, section Flavi was well represented. Seven known (A. alliaceus, A. flavus, A. nomius, A. parasiticus, A. pseudonomius, A. tamarii and A. transmontanensis) and two new species were detected. PPRI14275 consistently grouped basal to the A. transmontanensis clade. This single strain was morphologically identical to latter and we, therefore, identified it as A. transmontanensis. PPRI8986 and PPRI9280 formed a well-supported clade basal to the A. parasiticus clade and is described below as A. krugeri. PPRI6165 represented a unique lineage in the A. vandermerweii, A. lanosus, A. alliaceus and A. neoalliaceus clade, and is described as A. magaliesburgensis below.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

Fig. 3

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Flavi based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Sections Fumigati and Clavati (Fig. 4) — Section Fumigati was well represented amongst strains identified during this study. Strains were identified into 11 known (A. arcoverdensis, A. aureolus, A. fischeri, A. fumigatiaffinis, A. fumigatus, A. hiratsukae, A. laciniosus, A. lentulus, A. udagawae and A. wyomingensis) and one new species described below as A. elsenburgensis. The multigene phylogeny resolved this strain as sister species to A. australensis. Strains previously identified as A. laciniosus resolved in two distinct clades. One clade containing the ex-type (CBS 117721T) for A. laciniosus and the other the ex-type (CBM-FA884T) for A. takakii. Three species were identified in section Clavati, including A. clavatus, A. giganteus and a new species described below as A. seifertii.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4

Fig. 4

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Fumigati and Clavati based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Section Nidulantes (Fig. 5) — Ten section Nidulantes species were identified during this study: A. amoenus, A. creber, A. jensenii, A. nidulans, A. protuberus, A. quadrilineatus, A. recurvatus, A. rugulosus, A. sydowii, and one new species described below as A. purpureocrustaceus. The new species resolved as a close relative of A. tumidus.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 5

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Nidulantes based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Sections Terrei and Flavipedes (Fig. 6) — Ten section Terrei species were identified during this study: A. alabamensis, A. aureoterreus, A. carneus, A. citrinoterreus, A. hortai, A. terreus and four new species. One of these new species is described below as A. heldtiae, which consistently resolved as a sister species to A. pseudoterreus. The remaining three species or clades were temporarily named A. cf. alabamensis, A. cf. allahabadii and Aspergillus sp. CBS 142751 as they will be described in a separate paper. Aspergillus iizukae was the only species identified from section Flavipedes.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 6

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Terrei and Flavipedes based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Section Usti (Fig. 7) — Five section Usti species were identified during this study and included A. calidoustus, A. insuetus, A. pseudodeflectus and A. pseudoustus, while one new species is described below as A. sigurros. The new species resolved in a clade with A. carlsbadensis and A. contaminans. Based on phylogenetic results, the more recently described A. fuscicans (Romero et al. 2018) should be considered a synonym of the older A. pseudodeflectus (Samson & Mouchacca 1975).

Fig. 7.

Fig. 7

Multigene phylogeny of Aspergillus sect Usti based on a combined ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2 dataset. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. GenBank accession numbers for ITS (green), BenA (blue), CaM (maroon) and RPB2 (purple) are given behind strain numbers. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Section Nigri — The PPRI collection contained a large number of black Asperillus strains classified in section Nigri. Full results will be published elsewhere. Strains were identified into nine species as A. aculeatus, A. brasiliensis, A. brunneoviolaceus, A. japonicus, A. neoniger, A. niger, A. piperis, A. tubingensis and A. welwitschiae.

Morphology

We introduce seven new species in the Taxonomy section below. These species belong to sections Clavati, Flavi, Fumigati, Nidulantes, Terrei and Usti based on the phylogenetic analyses. Strains conformed to the general morphological characters previously observed for species accepted in these sections. All of the new species were compared with respective close relatives, with notes provided on distinguishing characters after each species description in the Taxonomy section.

Taxonomy

Aspergillus elsenburgensis Visagie, S.M. Romero & Houbraken, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834199. Fig. 14.



Fig. 14.

Fig. 14

Aspergillus elsenburgensis. A. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–E. Close-up of colonies on DG18 (B, C), CYA (D) and OA (E). F. Ascoma. G, H. Asci and ascospores. I–L. Conidiophores. M. Conidia. Scale bars: B, D, E = 1 mm; C = 0.2 mm; F, G = 20 μm; H–M = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, elsenburgensis, named after Elsenburg, the town the ex-type was collected from.



Classification: Eurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Fumigati.



Diagnosis: Colonies showing faster growth at 37 °C than at 25 °C, white and floccose, ascomata produced in aerial hyphae after prolonged incubation, white to cream colored, sporulation very sparse, conidiophores with short stipes (10–70 μm) and small globose conidia (1.5–2 μm).



Typus: South Africa, Western Cape, Elsenburg, soil, June 1986, (holotype PREM 62313, culture ex-type PPRI 2994 = CMV 011G4 = CSIR1013).



ITS Barcode: MK450651 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK451215; CaM = MK451513; RPB2 = MK450804).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 35–40; CYA 30 °C 50–53; CYA 37 °C 50–60; CYAS 8–12; MEAbl 55–60; MEA 40–45; DG18 20–25; YES 45–50; OA 45–50; CREA 35–36.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, ascomata present after prolonged incubation, produced in aerial hyphae, sparse sporulation present after >2 wk incubation, greenish, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to pale yellow (3A2–3A3). MEAbl colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, ascomata present after prolonged incubation, produced in aerial hyphae, sporulation absent, sparse sporulation present after >2 wk incubation, greenish, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to pale yellow (3A2–3A3). YES colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation absent, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to pale yellow (3A2–3A3). DG18 colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation sparse, white but becomes greenish with age, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to pale yellow (3A2–3A3). CREA colonies weak growth, acid not produced.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads radiate. Conidiophores uniseriate. Stipes hyaline, smooth, 10–70 × 2.5–4(–4.5) μm. Vesicles subclavate, phialides cover 50 % of head, 5–8 μm wide. Phialides ampulliform, 4.5–6 × 2–3 μm. Conidia globose, smooth, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 μm, (2.06 ± 0.15 × 2 ± 0.16, n = 56) μm, length/width 1.03 ± 0.05. Ascomata neosartorya-like, white to cream, abundant on OA, 70–270 μm. Asci 8-spored, 9–15 μm. Ascospores smooth, with 2 prominent equatorial furrow, globose to subglobose from the top, 4–5 × 3.5–5 μm (4.5 ± 0.2 × 4.2 ± 0.3, n = 43) μm, length/width 1.08 ± 0.07.



Notes: The multigene phylogeny resolves A. elsenburgensis as a close relative of A. australensis and A. galapagensis in section Fumigati (Fig. 4, Fig. 8). The new species grows faster on MEAbl and have somewhat longer stipes than A. australensis (55–60 vs 40–45 mm; up to 70 μm vs up to 30 μm (Samson et al. 2007)). Compared to A. galapagensis, A. elsenburgensis shows slightly faster growth on most media, while it also produces smaller conidia (1.5–2 vs 2.5–3 μm (Samson et al. 2007)).



Fig. 8.

Fig. 8

Single gene phylogenies of Aspergillus sect Fumigati based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Strains from new species are shown in orange text and reference strains in grey text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Aspergillus heldtiae Visagie, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834200. Fig. 15.



Fig. 15.

Fig. 15

Aspergillus heldtiaeA. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–F. Close-up of colonies on CYA (B), DG18 (C, D) and MEAbl (E, F). G–L. Conidiophores. M. Conidia. Scale bars: B–C = 2 mm; D, E = 0.5 mm; F = 0.2 mm; G–I = 20 μm; J–M = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, heltdiae, named after Margaret Vinci Heldt, the creator of the beehive hairstyle that was popular during the 1960s and famously Marge Simpson’s choice of hairstyle. This species resembles the beehive when observed through a dissection microscope.



Classification: Eurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Terrei.



Diagnosis: Colonies showing rapid growth, bright yellow mycelial areas, cinnamon sporulation, conidiophores biseriate, vesicle 17–28 μm, stipes hyaline with a small proportion darkened, conidia smooth, globose to subglobose, 2–2.5 μm.



Typus: South Africa, unknown, Millet seed, June 1991, (holotype PREM 50864, culture ex-type PPRI 4229 = CMV 004A2).



ITS Barcode: MK450656 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK450981; CaM = MK451518; RPB2 = MK450809).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 54–58; CYA 30 °C 53–56; CYA 37 °C 60–65; CYAS 50–55; MEAbl 55–60; MEA 36–38; DG18 55–65; YES > 70; OA 33–35; CREA 30–32.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas greenish yellow (1A8), sporulation sparse, cinnamon colored, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation olive brown (4B8), light yellow (3A5). MEAbl colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas yellow (2A7), sporulation sparse, cinnamon colored, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation olive brown (4B8), light yellow (3A5). YES colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas greenish yellow (1A8), sporulation sparse, cinnamon colored, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation olive brown (4B8), light yellow (3A5). DG18 colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas greenish yellow (1A8), sporulation sparse, cinnamon colored, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation olive brown (4B8), light yellow (3A5). CREA colonies strong growth, weak acid production.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads columnar. Conidiophores biseriate. Stipes hyaline, small proportion darkened, smooth, 140–330 × 5–8 μm. Vesicles globose, metulae cover 100 % of head, 17–28 μm wide. Metulae 6.5–8.5 × 3–4 μm. Phialides ampulliform, 5.5–7.5 × 2–2.5 μm. Conidia globose to subglobose, smooth, 2–2.5 × 2–2.5 μm, (2.4 ± 0.1 × 2.1 ± 0.1, n = 52) μm, length/width 1.15 ± 0.07. Ascomata not observed.



Notes: Phylogenies resolve A. heldtiae as a close relative of A. pseudoterreus in section Terrei (Fig. 6, Fig. 9). Both species produce bright yellow colonies with cinnamon colored sporulation. However, A. pseudoterreus produce conidiophores in distinctive loosely bundled synnema (Samson et al. 2011a), which is absent in the new species. Aspergillus heldtiae produces a minor proportion of darkened stipes, which are not reported for A. pseudoterreus.



Fig. 9.

Fig. 9

Single gene phylogenies of Aspergillus sect Terrei based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Aspergillus krugeri Visagie, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834203. Fig. 16.



Fig. 16.

Fig. 16

Aspergillus krugeri. A. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–D. Close-up of colonies on MEAbl (B), DG18 (C) and CYA (D). E–I. Conidiophores. J. Conidia. Scale bars: B, D = 2 mm; C = 0.5 mm; F, G = 20 μm; H–M = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, krugeri, named after the Kruger National Park, the National Park where the ex-type was collected from.



Classification: Eurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Flavi.



Diagnosis: Colonies on CYA showing rapid growth at 25 °C and moderate growth at 37 °C, dense sporulation, greyish to dark green, dark brown sclerotia abundant, conidial heads radiate, splitting into 3 or more columns, conidiophores uni- to biseriate, stipes rough, vesicle 40–80 μm wide, conidia broadly ellipsoid, rough, 4–7 × 3.5–6.5 μm.



Typus: South Africa, Kruger National Park, Mopane tree debris (Colophospermum mopane), October 2005, collected by E.J. vd Linde (holotype PREM 62309, culture ex-type PPRI 8986 = CMV 006G4).



ITS Barcode. MK450655 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK451098; CaM = MK451517; RPB2 = MK450808).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 60–70; CYA 30 °C 65–70; CYA 37 °C 40–47; CYAS 55–58; MEAbl > 70; MEA > 70; DG18 > 70; YES > 70; OA 52–56; CREA 33–36.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface granular and velutinous, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense to dense, greyish green to dark green (29E7–F7) colored, sclerotia abundant, white when young becoming brown to almost purplish, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation pale yellow to dull yellow (3A3–B3), olive brown (4D4) below sclerotia. MEAbl colonies surface granular and velutinous, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense to dense, greyish green to dark green (29E7–F7) colored, sclerotia abundant, white when young becoming brown to almost purplish, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation pale yellow to dull yellow (3A3–B3). YES colonies surface velutinous, granular and floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation dense, greyish green (29E7–30E7) colored, covering white to brown to almost purplish sclerotia, soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation greyish yellow (4B5), pale yellow to light yellow (4A3–5). DG18 colonies surface velutinous, mycelial areas white, sporulation dense, greyish green (29E7–30E7) colored, covering white to brown sclerotia, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation pale yellow to dull yellow (3A3–B3). CREA colonies weak growth, weak acid production.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads radiate, splitting into 3 or more columns. Conidiophores uniseriate to biseriate with an equal ratio. Stipes hyaline, rough, 350–1000(–1300) × 10–18(–21) μm. Vesicles globose to spathulate, metulae/phialides cover 100 % of head, 40–80 μm wide. Metulae 11–22 × 5–10 μm. Phialides ampulliform, 10–15 × 4.5–7 μm. Conidia broadly ellipsoid, rough, 4–7 × 3.5–6.5 μm, (5.5 ± 0.7 × 5.1 ± 0.6, n = 72) μm, length/width 1.08 ± 0.04. Ascomata not observed. Sclerotia white when young, becoming dark brown with age, 370–850 μm.



Notes: Aspergillus krugeri belongs to the A. flavus-clade (Frisvad et al. 2019) and is closely related to A. arachidicola, A. parasiticus, A. novoparasiticus, A. sergii and A. transmontanensis (Fig. 3, Fig. 10). These species are morphologically similar, but colony growth rates can distinguish between them. Aspergillus krugeri grows faster than A. parasiticus (40–60 mm), A. sergii (<55 mm) and A. transmontanensis (55–57 mm) on CYA (Soares et al. 2012). On CYA at 37  °C, Aspergillus krugeri grows more restricted than A. arachidicola (60–70 mm), A. novoparasiticus (58–63 mm), A. sergii (<60 mm) and A. transmontanensis (55–57 mm) (Pildain et al., 2008, Gonçalves et al., 2012).



Fig. 10.

Fig. 10

Phylogenies of Aspergillus sect Flavi based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Aspergillus magaliesburgensis Visagie, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834204. Fig. 17.



Fig. 17.

Fig. 17

Aspergillus magaliesburgensis. A. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–E. Close-up of colonies after prolonged incubation on CYA (B–D) and MEAbl (E). F–J. Conidiophores. K. Conidia. Scale bars: B, E = 2 mm; C = 0.2 mm; D = 0.5 mm; F–L = 20 μm; J, K = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, magaliesburgensis, named after Magaliesburg, the town the ex-type was collected from.



Classification: Eurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Flavi.



Diagnosis: Colonies pale, sparse intense yellow sporulation becoming cinnamon with age. Stipes yellow, conidia smooth, globose to subglobose, 2.5–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 μm. Sclerotia present.



Typus: South Africa, Gauteng, Magaliesburg, from an Antlion (Myrmeleontidae), April 1996, collected by J. Pieterse (holotype PREM 62314, culture ex-type PPRI 6165 = CMV 007A3).



ITS Barcode: MK450649 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK451116; CaM = MK451511; RPB2 = MK450802).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 65–70; CYA 30 °C 60–65; CYA 37 °C 50–55; CYAS 65-70; MEAbl > 70; MEA 53–56; DG18 > 70; YES > 70; OA 55–60; CREA 55–60.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, some yellow aerial mycelia present, sporulation absent after 7 d, intense yellow when present, with age cinnamon, sclerotia present, black when mature, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to pale yellow (2A2–3). MEAbl colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation absent after 7 d, intense yellow when present, with age cinnamon, sclerotia present, black when mature, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation pale yellow to dull yellow (3A3–B3). YES colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation very sparse, bright yellow, black when mature, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation pale yellow to greyish yellow (4A3–B3). DG18 colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, some yellow aerial mycelia present, sporulation absent, soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to pale yellow (2A2–3). CREA colonies weak growth, acid not produced.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads radiate. Conidiophores biseriate. Stipes yellow, smooth, (350–)900–1150 × (6–)8–12 μm. Vesicles globose, metulae cover 100 % of head, 40–85 μm wide. Metulae 8–12(–16) × 3.5–5.5 μm. Phialides ampulliform, 7.5–10 × 2–3 μm. Conidia globose to subglobose, smooth, 2.5–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 μm, (3.1 ± 0.2 × 2.9 ± 0.3, n = 52) μm, length/width 1.08 ± 0.12. Ascomata not observed. Sclerotia black when mature, 550–1500 μm.



Notes: Phylogenies resolve A. magaliesburgensis in section Flavi in the A. alliaceus clade (Frisvad et al. 2019), containing A. alliaceus, A. lanosus, A. neoalliaceus and A. vandermerwei (Fig. 3, Fig. 10). BenA, CaM and RPB2 can be used to identify the new species. Aspergillus magaliesburgensis produces sclerotia, and these structures are absent in A. vandermerwei, while A. lanosus typically produces bright yellow colonies. The new species is distinct from A. neoalliaceus based on the subglobose to ellipsoid conidia of the latter. Morphologically, A. magaliesburgensis and A. alliaceus could not be distinguished from each other. We do note that “faintly yellow conidiophores” were previously observed for A. alliaceus (Raper & Fennell 1965), while A. magaliesburgensis produce conidiophores with distinctly yellow stipes.



Aspergillus purpureocrustaceus Visagie, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834205. Fig. 18.



Fig. 18.

Fig. 18

Aspergillus purpureocrustaceus. A. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–E. Close-up of colonies on MEAbl (B), DG18 (C, E) and CYA (D). F. Hülle cells. G. Potential immature asci. H–K. Conidiophores. L. Conidia. Scale bars: B, C, D = 2 mm; E = 0.5 mm; F = 20 μm; G–K = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, named purpureocrustaceus, meaning purple and crust, in reference to the colonies on CYA and MEAbl that turn purple and crust-like with age.



Classification: Eurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Nidulantes.



Diagnosis: Colonies crust-like and very hard due to abundant Hülle cells produced on surface, having a reddish brown to purple color, sporulation sparse to absent, conidiophores biseriate, stipes 130–310 μm, conidia globose to subglobose, rough, 3.5–4.5(–5) × 3–4.5 μm.



Typus: South Africa, Limpopo, plant debris, January 1990, (holotype PREM 62264, culture ex-type PPRI 3840 = CMV 008B3).



Additional material examined: South Africa, Western Cape, Cape Town, Huntsman spider (Palystes castaneus), January 1994, collected by N. Larsen & H. Robertson PPRI 5548 = CMV 008B1.



ITS Barcode: MK450653 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK451138; CaM = MK451515; RPB2 = MK450806).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 40–41 (25–26); CYA 30  C 10–15; CYA 37 °C no growth; CYAS 25–28; MEAbl 45–47 (33–35); MEA 38–41; DG18 35–40; YES 53–60; OA 25–30; CREA 27–30.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas yellow to grey, sporulation absent, Hülle cells abundant, reddish brown, becoming purple and crust-lie with age, soluble pigment absent, exudate reddish brown and clear, reverse pigmentation dark brown (6F8), yellowish brown (5D4–5). MEAbl colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas yellow to grey, sporulation absent, Hülle cells abundant, reddish brown, becoming purple and crust-lie with age, soluble pigment absent, exudate reddish brown and clear, reverse pigmentation dark brown (6F8), yellowish brown (5D4–5). YES colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas yellow to grey, sporulation absent, Hülle cells abundant, reddish brown, soluble pigment absent, exudate reddish brown and clear, reverse pigmentation olive brown (4F8), pale yellow (4A2). DG18 colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas yellow to grey, sporulation sparse, greyish green (28D6), Hülle cells abundant, reddish brown, soluble pigment absent, exudate reddish brown and clear, reverse pigmentation dark brown (6F8), yellowish brown (5D4–5). CREA colonies weak growth, acid not produced.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads radiate. Conidiophores biseriate. Stipes hyaline, smooth, 130–310 × 5–7.5 μm. Vesicles subclavate, metulae cover 75–100 % of head, 10–20 μm wide. Metulae 6–11.5 × 3–5.5 μm. Phialides ampulliform, 7–10 × 3–4 μm. Conidia globose, rough, 3.5–4.5(–5) × 3–4.5 μm, (4.1 ± 0.4 × 3.9 ± 0.4, n = 28) μm, length/width 1.05 ± 0.04. Hülle cells globose to subglobose, occurring in hard crusts with reddish purple color, 13–25 μm. Ascomata not observed.



Notes: Phylogenies resolve A. purpureocrustaceus in a clade of section Nidulantes with A. multicolor, A. mulundensis, A. pluriseminatus and A. tumidus (Fig. 5, Fig. 11). This group of species typically produce abundant Hülle cells, often giving the colony a reddish to purple color with age (Roy et al., 1987, Stchigel and Guarro, 1997, Chen et al., 2016, Crous et al., 2018). Comparing these species, only A. multicolor and A. mulundensis are capable of growth on CYA at 37 °C. Aspergillus pluriseminatus can be distinguished from the other species in this clade by the presence of a sexual state and absence of asexual state. Compared to the new species, A. tumidus grows more restricted on MEA (38–41 vs 22–23 mm), grows more rapidly on CYA at 30 °C (10–15 vs 32–34 mm), with its colony appearance dominated by good sporulation.



Fig. 11.

Fig. 11

Single gene phylogenies of Aspergillus sect Nidulantes based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Strains from new species are shown in orange text and reference strains in grey text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Aspergillus seifertii Visagie & N. Yilmaz, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834206. Fig. 19.



Fig. 19.

Fig. 19

Aspergillus seifertii. A. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–E. Close-up of colonies on DG18 (B) and CYA (C–E). F–H. I. Conidiophores. I. Conidia. Scale bars: B–D = 0.5 mm; E = 2 mm; F, G = 20 μm; H–I = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, seifertii, named after Dr. Keith A. Seifert, a prominent Canadian mycologist specialised on mycotoxigenic genera and other hyphomycetes.



ClassificationEurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Clavati.



Diagnosis — Colonies greyish to dark green, producing large conidiophores with clavate heads, stipes up to 6 mm long, vesicles 26–60 μm wide, up to 210 μm long.



Typus: South Africa, Free State, Golden Gate National Park, Grassroots, January 1988, collected by R. Anelich (holotype PREM 49066, culture ex-type PPRI 3211 = CMV 006F5).



Additional material examined: South Africa, Free State, Golden Gate National Park, Soil, 2018, collected by R. Jacobs, PPRI 26025 = CMV 011E3; CMV 011E4.



ITS Barcode: MK450647 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK451093; CaM = MK451509; RPB2 = MK450800).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 33–35; CYA 30 °C 35–38; CYA 37 °C 2–3; CYAS 10–12; MEAbl 40–45; MEA 38–40; DG18 25–28; YES 45–50; OA 28–35; CREA 20–25.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense, greyish green to dark green (25D5–F5), soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation pale green to pale yellow (30A3–1A3–2A3). MEAbl colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation sparse, dark green (25F5), soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation pale green to pale yellow (30A3–1A3–2A3). YES colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation dense, greyish green to dark green (25D5–F5), soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, reverse pigmentation yellowish white to yellow (3A2–6). DG18 colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense, dull green to dark green (25D4–F5), soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation pale green to pale yellow to light yellow (30A3–1A3–2A3–3A4). CREA colonies weak growth, acid not produced.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads clavate, with age splitting into 3–4 divergent columns. Conidiophores uniseriate. Stipes hyaline, smooth, up to 6 mm × 17–24 μm. Vesicles clavate, phialides cover 100 % of head, 26–60 μm wide, up to 210 μm long. Phialides ampulliform, 7–9.5 × 2.5–3.5 μm. Conidia globose, smooth, 3–4 × 3–4 μm, 3.4 ± 0.2 × 3.3 ± 0.19, n = 59) μm, length/width 1.03 ± 0.05. Ascomata not observed.



Notes: Phylogenies resolves Aspergillus seifertii as a unique lineage in section Clavati (Fig. 4, Fig. 12). Generally, species from this section produce blue-green conidia and clavate conidiophores (except for A. posadasensis for which only a sexual reproductive state was reported (Marin-Felix et al. 2014)). The stipe and vesicle length are generally good characters to distinguish between these species (Varga et al. 2007). Aspergillus clavatus and A. seifertii produce conidiophores with stipes of up to 3 and 6 mm, respectively, while A. giganteus and A. longivesica can grow several cm in length. The remaining section Clavati species have stipes shorter than 1 mm. Vesicle length is also a useful character. Aspergillus clavati, A. seifertii, A. giganteus and A. longivesica have vesicles up to 200, 210, 600 and 3200 μm, respectively.



Fig. 12.

Fig. 12

Single gene phylogenies of Aspergillus sect Terrei based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Aspergillus sigurros Visagie, sp. nov. MycoBank MB834207. Fig. 20.



Fig. 20.

Fig. 20

Aspergillus sigurros. A. Colonies, from left to right, CYA, MEAbl, DG18. B–E. Close-up of colonies on CYA (B), DG18 (C, D) and MEAbl (E). F. Hülle cells. G–K. I. Conidiophores. I. Conidia. Scale bars: B, C, E = 2 mm; D = 0.5 mm; F–H = 20 μm; I–K = 10 μm.

Etymology: Latin, sigurros, named after Sigurrós, one of Keith A. Seifert’s favourite music groups.



Classification: Eurotiomycetes, Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae, Aspergillus section Usti.



Diagnosis: Colonies with grey to brownish moderately dense sporulation, growth on CYA at 30 °C 10–14 mm; conidiophores with brown stipes, vesicles 11–25 μm wide, conidia spiny, globose 3–4 × 3–4 μm.



Typus: South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pinetown, unknown environmental sample, April 2014, collected by M. Truter (holotype PREM 62308, culture ex-type PPRI 15889 = CMV 005I4 = 2014-M62/147).



ITS Barcode: MK450650 (alternative identification markers: BenA = MK451066; CaM = MK451512; RPB2 = MK450803).



Colony diam (7 d, in mm): CYA 34–35; CYA 30 °C 10–15; CYA 37 °C no growth; CYAS 27–29; MEAbl 29–31; MEA 28–30; DG18 28–32; YES 39–42; OA 32–35; CREA 25–26.



Colony characters (25 °C, 7 d): CYA colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense, brownish grey to brown (5E2–5–6E5–2), soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, minute droplets, reverse pigmentation olive (2D4), yellowish white (3A2). MEAbl colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense, grey (5E1–6E1) to brown (6E6), soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation olive (2D4), yellowish white (3A2). YES colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation sparse to moderately dense, greyish brown (5D3–6D3), soluble pigment absent, exudate absent, reverse pigmentation brownish orange (5C5), yellowish white (3A2). DG18 colonies surface floccose, mycelial areas white, sporulation moderately dense, brownish grey to brown (5E2–5–6E5–2), soluble pigment absent, exudate clear, minute droplets, reverse pigmentation brown (5E5), olive (2D4), yellowish white (3A2). CREA colonies strong growth, acid not produced.



Micromorphology: Conidial heads radiate. Conidiophores biseriate. Stipes brown, smooth, (85–)120–360 × 2.5–6.5 μm. Vesicles globose, metulae cover 50–75 % of head, 11–25 μm wide. Metulae 6–10 × 3–4 μm. Phialides ampulliform, 6–8.5 × 2.5–3.5 μm. Conidia globose, spiny to somewhat wart-like, some covered in sheath, 3–4 × 3–4 μm, (3.2 ± 0.2 × 3.2 ± 0.2, n = 53) μm, length/width 1.03 ± 0.04. Hülle cells irregularly elongated, in scattered groups, 22–60 × 11–20 μm. Ascomata not observed.



Notes: Aspergillus sigurros resolves as a close relative of P. carlsbadensis and P. contaminans in section Usti (Fig. 7, Fig. 13). Compared to A. carlsbadensis, the new species produces conidiophores with broader vesicles (11–25 vs 10–14 μm), larger conidia (3–4 vs 2.5–3 μm) and grows more restricted on CYA at 30 °C (10–15 vs 28–32 mm) (Samson et al. 2011b). Microscopically A. contaminans and A. sigurros are very similar. However, the new species grows faster on CYA at 30 °C (4–5 vs 10–14 mm) (Crous et al. 2017).



Fig. 13.

Fig. 13

Single gene phylogenies of Aspergillus sect Usti based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Strains from new species are shown in orange text, strains identified during this study in black text and reference strains in grey text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp are indicated above thickened branches (T = ex-type; ∗ = 100 % bs or 1.00 pp; - = support lower than 80 % bs and/or 0.95 pp).

Discussion

With this project, we aimed to re-identify strains previously lodged in the PPRI and MRC culture collections as Aspergillus or its old associated sexual state genera (e.g. Eurotium, Emericella etc.). Unfortunately, a large proportion of strains in PPRI were either badly contaminated or not viable (±35 %). As a result, only 250 strains were included in this particular study, with 354 new DNA reference sequences (ITS 24; BenA 52; CaM 250; RPB2 28) generated and published on GenBank. South African Aspergillus was found to be relatively diverse with 63 species identified belonging to 11 sections (sections Aspergillus, Candidi, Circumdati, Clavati, Cremei, Flavi, Flavipedes, Fumigati, Nidulantes, Terrei and Usti). This does not include the 11 Aspergillus sect Nigri species that will be published elsewhere. Among the 63 species, seven were found to be new and are described in the Taxonomy section above. One problem experienced during this project was that for the new species, very few strains were available, e.g. four new species were represented by only one strain, while the remaining three new species had only two strains. This situation is frequent when sequencing smaller collections around the world. For A. elsenburgensis we were fortunate that CBS had several additional strains sequenced. Even though not ideal, comparisons based on morphology, multigene phylogenies and single gene trees applying genealogical concordance phylogenetic species recognition (Taylor et al. 2000), leaves little doubt about the novelty of the new species introduced here.

Sequence based identifications of PPRI and MRC strains was relatively straight forward thanks to the secondary identification marker CaM and associated database (Samson et al. 2014). Throughout the genus and between different sections, the primer pairs cmd5&cmd6 performed (Hong et al. 2005) well. For only a minor proportion of strains, additional ITS, BenA and/or RPB2 sequences were needed to confirm the CaM based identifications. ITS and BenA posed no problems in terms of amplification using proposed methods of (Samson et al. 2014), but RPB2 was difficult to amplify using either 5F&7CR (Liu et al. 1999) or 5FEur&7CREur (Houbraken et al. 2012). Both primer sets provided intermitted hits and misses, with the internal sequencing primers F310, R310, 388F and 527R (Houbraken & Samson 2011) at the end needed to obtain high quality sequences contigs.

Several Aspergillus strains belonging to sect Terrei were tentatively identified during this study. Both A. allahabadii and A. alabamensis appears to contain a large degree of infraspecies variation and potentially contain a large number of new species. Even though the multigene phylogeny (Fig. 6) appears to indicate that several new species may exist, we did not feel comfortable introducing new species in a difficult clade without having more data from other regions of the world. Similarly, PPRI 14275 potentially represents a new species closely related to A. transmontanensis from section Flavi. However, since no consistent morphological differences were observed in this strain, we decided to not introduce a phylogenetic species for this single strain.

One of the big challenges we face in Aspergillus is to discover the missing biodiversity. This can either be in the form of new species discovery and/or isolation of additional strains of already known species. Phylogenetic approaches and their incorporation into our species concepts resulted in rather aggressive approaches. It is not ideal to introduce new species based on one or two strains, but as is obvious from this study, often one is left with that as the only option. Monotypic species are frequent in Aspergillus with 118 of the 415 accepted species represented by a single strain (the ex-type), while 80 species are represented by two strains. Within a modern taxonomy like that employed in Aspergillus, this creates problems on several levels, but most pressing is infraspecies variation for species that are often not captured. This is true from a morphological and DNA sequence perspective, but especially concerning the latter, it creates difficulties with identifications. It is not uncommon to find strains that show a few nucleotide differences from the ex-type sequence. Trying to identify such a sequence becomes very complicated amongst monotypic species as one will often not know if the strain belongs to a new species or if they found infraspecies variation within a known species. Studies that generate a lot of additional reference sequences are thus of great importance, not only to discover new species but also to discover infraspecies variation which ultimately makes future species delineations and thus identifications easier. For taxonomic revisions it is crucial to have as much data as possible available, as recently illustrated for the A. viridinutans species complex, where it was found that A. parafelis and A. pseudofelis should be considered synonyms of the genetically diverse A. felis (Hubka et al. 2018). Expanded efforts to isolate and identify fungi should thus remain a priority in important genera such as Aspergillus.

Acknowledgements

We dedicate this paper to Dr Keith A. Seifert on the occasion of his retirement from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Ottawa Research and Development Centre). Apart from his valuable contributions to the international mycological community, he has been a role model, mentor, colleague and friend to the authors on this paper. We thank Stella Romero for providing additional strains and data used for the description of A. elsenburgensis. CMV would like to acknowledge the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP) of the National Research Foundation of South Africa for financial support provided under grant nr 110441 (reference FBIS170406226088). The authors would like to thank Konstanze Bensch and Shaun Pennycook who provided Latin assistance.

Footnotes

Peer review under responsibility of Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute.

Appendix A

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simyco.2020.02.003.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

The following are the Supplementary data to this article:

Multimedia component 1
mmc1.pdf (155.4KB, pdf)
Mulitmedia component 2
mmc2.xlsx (44.5KB, xlsx)

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