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A dead Asian House Gecko, infected with multiple species of fungi, was found floating in a jug of water inside a building in Kunming, China. The dead gecko was taken to the mycology laboratory at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and different fungal species were isolated. Phylogenetic analyses were carried out on the resultant isolates based on multiple gene sequences (ITS, LSU, mtSSU, rpb1, rpb2, tub2, Bloc, CAL, CHS-1, GAPDH, tef1-α). In addition to the phylogenetic analyses, morphological characteristics were also used to describe the fungal taxa. The entomopathogenic fungus Basidiobolus ranarum was isolated from the gecko’s inflamed right forelimb, while Beauveria bassiana was isolated from the gecko’s forehead. In addition, the neck skin yielded a common and important plant pathogen Colletotrichum jianxiense. Full descriptions, color plates of macro and micro structures of fungal taxa, and phylogenetic trees to show the placements of fungal taxa are provided. These findings represent either new host records or new country records for the three fungal species.

Basidiobolus Eidam, Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen 4: 194 (1886) Index Fungorum number: IF 20068 Type species: Basidiobolus ranarum Eidam, Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen4: 194 (1886). Notes: Basidiobolus was introduced by Eidam, with B. ranarum as the type species (Eidam 1886). The zygospores are characterized as smooth and thick-walled, globose to subglose, with distinct conjugation beak (Burkitt 1964). Basidiobolus spp. and Conidiobolus spp. have been reported as human pathogens in the order Entomophthorales, and their zygospores differ by the presence or absence of conjugation beaks (Ribes et al. 2000, Yang et al. 2021). Basidiobolus ranarum can cause Zygomycosis to humans, and clinic symptoms include forming the firm and painless subcutaneous swellings on the trunk and extremities (Vilela & Mendoza 2018). In addition, Basidiobolus spp. have also caused diseases in horses and dogs (Owens et al. 1985, Greene et al. 2002). Moreover, B. ranarum as a saprotrophic fungus is commonly present in soil, decaying vegetables, gastrointestinal tracts of amphibians (frogs, and toads), reptiles (house geckoes, lizards, and chameleons), fish and bats (Van Overeem 1925, Burkitt et al. 1964, Gugnani & Okafor 1980, Mugerwa 1984, Okafor et al. 1984, Gugnani 1999)., Published as part of Yang, Erfu, Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Dai, Dongqin, Promputtha, Itthayakorn, Mortimer, Peter E. & Karunarathna, Samantha C., 2022, Three interesting fungal species associated with the Asian House Gecko in Kunming, China, pp. 37-56 in Phytotaxa 545 (1) on page 42, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.545.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/6520349, {"references":["Eidam, E. (1886) Basidiobolus, eine neue Gattung der Entomophthoraeeen. Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen 4: 181 - 251.","Burkitt, D. P., Wilson, A. M. M. & Jelliffe, D. B. (1964) Subcutaneous phycomycosis: A review of 31 cases seen in Uganda. British Medical Journal 1: 1669 - 1672. https: // doi. org / 10.1136 / bmj. 1.5399. 1669","Ribes, J. A., Vanover-Sams, C. L. & Baker, D. J. (2000) Zygomycetes in human disease. Clinical microbiology reviews 13: 236 - 301. https: // doi. org / 10.1128 / CMR. 13.2.236","Yang, X., Li, Y., Zhou, X., Wang, Y., Geng, S., Liu, H., Yang, Q., Liu, X., Hiruma, M., Sugita, T., Ikeda, S. & Ogawa, H. (2021) Rhinofacial conidiobolomycosis caused by Conidiobolus coronatus in a Chinese rice farmer. Mycoses 53: 369 - 373. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1439 - 0507.2009.01716. x","Vilela, R. & Mendoza, L. (2018) Human pathogenic entomophthorales. Clinical microbiology reviews 31: e 00014 - 18. https: // doi. org / 10.1128 / CMR. 00014 - 18","Owens, W. R., Miller, R. I., Haynes, P. F. & Snider, T. G. (1985) Phycomycosis caused by Basidiobolus haptosporus in two horses. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 186: 703 - 705.","Greene, C. E., Brockus, C. W., Currin, M. P. & Jones, C. J. (2002) Infection with Basidiobolus ranarum in two dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 221: 528 - 532. https: // doi. org / 10.2460 / javma. 2002.221.528","Van Overeem, C. (1925) Uber ain merkwurdiges Vorkommen von Basidiobolus ranarum Eidam. Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg 7: 423 - 431.","Gugnani, H. C. & Okafor, J. I. (1980) Mycotic flora of the intestine and other internal organs of certain reptiles and amphibians with special reference to characterization of Basidiobolus isolates. Mycosen 23: 260 - 268. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1439 - 0507.1980. tb 02605. x","Mugerwa, J. W. (1984) Entomophthoromycosis caused by Basidiobolus haptosporus. In: Waren, K. S. & Mahmoud, A. F. (Eds.) Tropical and geographic medicine. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 968 - 970.","Okafor, J. I., TeStrake, D., Mushinsky, H. R. & Yangco, B. G. (1984) A Basidiobolus sp. and its association with reptiles and amphibians in Southern Florida. Sabouraudia 22: 47 - 51. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00362178485380081","Gugnani, H. C. (1999) A review of zygomycosis due to Basidiobolus ranarum. European journal of epidemiology 15: 923 - 929. https: // doi. org / 10.1023 / A: 1007656818038"]}

Basidiobolus ranarum Eidam, Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen 4: 194 (1886) (Figure 3) Index Fungorum number: IF224388 Saprobic or pathogenic on dead house gecko. Mycelium 10–20 μm wide (x̅ = 16 μm, n = 20), hyaline, septate, branched, tubular, sightly constriction at the septum, soon forming zygospores, the zygospores are (sexual spores) characterized by globose to subglobose 25–40 × 25–35 μm (x̅ = 34 × 31 μm, n = 20), wrapped in mycelium, with smooth and thick wall, 1–3.5 μm (x̅= 2.5 μm, n = 20) thickness, and wall layer thinner with the maturity, attaching a prominent conjugation beaks 10–15 μm wide, 8–11 high (Figure 3: f, g), hyaline (the microscopic features observed with cotton blue), verruculose to granulate in cellular inner, some zygospores form meristospores by cleavage of the cytoplasm (Figure 3: i–k). Culture characteristics: The pure culture was obtained from slimy tissue of gecko’s swollen forelimb, colonies circular, fast-growing on PDA at the room temperature, reaching around 40 mm diameter after two weeks, with an irritating odor, yellowish-brown to creamy grey, waxy, radially striated with barren crack at the centre, visible sparse mycelium tips at the margin, abundant global to subglobose zygospores (conidia) pave on folded surface; reverse sunken at the centre, yellowish to pale outwardly, without pigments produced from PDA. Substratum: Fish (Nickerson & Hutchison 1971); Amphibians (frogs, toads) (Coremans-Pelseneer 1973); house gecko faeces (Hemiolactylus sp.) (Claussen & Schmidt 2019); wall gecko (Hemiolactylus sp.) (Gugnani & Okafor 1980); bat (Chaturvedi et al. 1984); child/adult, human (Khan et al. 2001, Yusuf et al. 2003); dead Asian House Gecko (Hemiolactylus sp.) (this study). Distribution: Arkansas and Missouri, American (Nickerson & Hutchison 1971); Kinshasa, Zaire (Coremans-Pelseneer 1973); Nsukka, Nigeria (Gugnani & Okafor 1980); India (Chaturvedi et al. 1984, Khan et al. 2001); Jizan, Saudi Arabia (Yusuf et al. 2003); KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) (Claussen & Schmidt 2019), Yunnan, China (this study) Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, on dead Asian House Gecko, Peter E. Mortimer, F-4 (Herb. KUN-HKAS 122654), living culture, KUMCC 21-0467. Genebank numbers: ITS: OM 670164, LSU: OM 670161, mtSSU: OM 692370. Notes: Our isolate KUMCC 21-0467 shares similar characteristics with Basidiobolus magnus and B. ranarum in having globose to subglobose, smooth, thick-walled zygospore 20–60 μm in diameter, wrapped in mycelium, with a conjugation beak (Eidam 1886, Davis et al. 1994). The BLASTn results show the ITS gene region highly overlaps with B. magnus (ARSEF 1139) at 99.3% (668/673 bp, 0 gap), at 99% (664/672 bp, 0 gap) similarity with B. ranarum (ARSEF 260), and the LSU region indicates 99.8 % similarity (1010/1012bp, 0 gap) with B. ranarum (ARSEF 8303) and B. magnus (CBS 205.64). In addition, 667 bp of the mtSSU region was 100% similar to B. ranarum (AFTOL-ID 301); unfortunately, we were unable to amplify the rpb2 (7F/11aR) gene of our strain KUMCC 21-0467, The phylogenetic trees based on ITS, LSU, rpb2 and mtSSU show our isolate clusters with B. ranarum (ARSEF 260 and ATCC 14449) (Figure 2). Basidiobolus ranarum has also been found on frogs in Canada, and many infected cases in humans all over the world have been reported (Gugnani 1999, Al-Hatmi et al. 2021). As morphological characteristics examined largely overlap with B. ranarum, also supported by the phylogenetic evidences, our isolate is identified as Basidiobolus ranarum with a new country record for China; however, B. ranarum has previously been reported on wall gecko and house gecko faeces (Hemidactylus spp.) (Gugnani & Okafor 1980, Gugnani 1999, Claussen & Schmidt 2019)., Published as part of Yang, Erfu, Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Dai, Dongqin, Promputtha, Itthayakorn, Mortimer, Peter E. & Karunarathna, Samantha C., 2022, Three interesting fungal species associated with the Asian House Gecko in Kunming, China, pp. 37-56 in Phytotaxa 545 (1) on page 42, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.545.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/6520349, {"references":["Nickerson, M. A. & Hutchison, J. A. (1971) The distribution of the fungus Basidiobolus ranarum Eidam in fish, amphibians and reptiles. American Midland Naturalist 86: 500 - 502. https: // doi. org / 10.2307 / 2423642","Coremans-Pelseneer, J. (1973) Isolation of Basidiobolus meristosporus from natural sources. Mycopathologia 49: 173 - 176. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00362178485380311","Claussen, M. & Schmidt, S. (2019) First-time isolation and quantification of Basidiobolus spp. from reptile faeces in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) using selective media. Mycoses 62: 298 - 305. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / myc. 12868","Gugnani, H. C. & Okafor, J. I. (1980) Mycotic flora of the intestine and other internal organs of certain reptiles and amphibians with special reference to characterization of Basidiobolus isolates. Mycosen 23: 260 - 268. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1439 - 0507.1980. tb 02605. x","Chaturvedi, V. P., Randhawa, H. S., Khan, Z. U., Singh, N., Kini, S. (1984) Prevalence of Basidiobolus ranarum Eidam in the intestinal tract of an insectivorous bat, Rhinopoma hardwickei hardwickei Gray, in Delhi. Sabouraudia 22: 185 - 189. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00362178485380311","Khan, Z. U., Khoursheed, M., Makar, R., Al-Waheeb, S., Al-Bader, I., Al-Muzaini, A., Chandy, R. & Mustafa, A. S. (2001) Basidiobolus ranarum as an etiologic agent of gastrointestinal zygomycosis. Journal of clinical microbiology 39: 2360 - 2363. https: // doi. org / 10.1128 / JCM. 39.6.2360 - 2363.2001","Yusuf, N. W., Assaf, H. M. & Rotowa, N. A. (2003) Invasive gastrointestinal Basidiobolus ranarum infection in an immunocompetent child. The Pediatric infectious disease journal 22: 281 - 282. https: // doi. org / 10.1097 / 01. inf. 0000054020.84508.02","Eidam, E. (1886) Basidiobolus, eine neue Gattung der Entomophthoraeeen. Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen 4: 181 - 251.","Davis, S. R., Ellis, D. H., Goldwater, P., Dimitriou, S. & Byard, R. (1994) First human culture-proven australian case of entomophthoromycosis caused by Basidiobolus ranarum. Journal of Medical & Veterinary Mycology 32: 225 - 230. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 02681219480000291","Gugnani, H. C. (1999) A review of zygomycosis due to Basidiobolus ranarum. European journal of epidemiology 15: 923 - 929. https: // doi. org / 10.1023 / A: 1007656818038","Al-Hatmi, A. M. S., Balkhair, A., Al-Busaidi, I., Sandoval-Denis, M., Al-Housni, S., Ba Taher, H., Hamdan Al-Shehhi, A., Raniga, S., Al- Shaibi, M., Al-Siyabi, T., Sybren de Hoog, G., Jacques, F. M., Al-Rawahi, A., Al-Muharrmi, Z., Al-Harrasi, A., Al-Adawi, B. (2021) Basidiobolus omanensis sp. nov. causing angioinvasive abdominal basidiobolomycosis. Journal of Fungi 7: 653. https: // doi. org / 10.3390 / jof 7080653"]}

We identified Basidiobolus fungi on geophilomorphan centipedes (Chilopoda) from caves of Southeast Brazil. Twelve specimens of centipedes of the family Geophilidae were examined, and two of them carried the secondary capilliconidia of Basidiobolus on their exoskeleton. The fungus uses the surface of the exoskeleton as a support for the asexual reproductive structure. In this manner, the host is used for the purpose of dispersing its spores. This study expands current knowledge of the diversity of arthropods used as host for the fungus, and in particular for Basidiobolus, living in cave habitats.

Basidiobolomycosis is a fungal infection caused mainly by Basidiobolus ranarum, a filamentous fungus of the order Entomophthorales and the family Basidiobolaceae. This infection typically involves the skin and soft tissue; however, visceral organ involvement has also been reported. Here, we report a case of gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis in a young child who presented with acute bloody diarrhea which was initially misdiagnosed as intussusception.

Mucormycosis and entomophthoromycosis are invasive fungal infections caused by environmental nonseptate filamentous fungi. Mucormycosis is caused by the ubiquitous Mucorales fungi and occurs mostly in immunocompromised patients or those with diabetes mellitus. Entomophthoromycosis is caused by the Entomophthorales fungi, found mostly in warm climates. According to the classification proposed by Hibbet et al. the subphylum Entomophthoromycotina contains the order Entomophthorales, which is subdivided into two families: the Ancylistaceae and Basidiobolaceae, containing the genera Conidiobolus and Basidiobolus, respectively. There are 27 species in the genus Conidiobolus, but only two (C. coronatus and C. incongruus) have been recovered from clinical specimens, while in the genus Basidiobolus, B. ranarum is the only species known to cause human disease. Several recent reports have suggested that the incidence of mucormycosis is increasing, based on single-center studies. Mucormycosis represents 2% of invasive fungal infections following solid organ transplantion (SOT), mostly after kidney transplantation. Mucormycosis can also develop in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients or intravenous drug abusers. Blood cultures have no diagnostic value, as they are almost always negative, despite the fact that mucormycosis is an angioinvasive disease. Demonstration of hyphae in clinical samples is important for the diagnosis of mucormycosis. In summary, new molecular tools have been developed for the diagnosis of mucormycosis and the identification of Mucorales fungi in tissues. Culture results should always be interpreted in light of the clinical presentation and along with the results of direct examination and histopathology.