Kluyveromyces osmophilus is not a synonym of Zygosaccharomyces mellis ; reinstatement as Zygosaccharomyces osmophilus comb. nov.

Kluyveromyces osmophilus , a single-strain species isolated from Mozambique sugar, has been treated a synonym of Zygosaccharomyces mellis . Analyses of D1/D2 LSU rRNA gene sequences confirmed that the species belongs to the genus Zygosaccharomyces but showed it to be distinct from strains of Z. mellis . During studies of yeasts associated with stingless bees in Brazil, nine additional isolates of the species were obtained from unripe and ripe honey and pollen of Scaptotrigona cfr. bipunctata , as well as ripe honey of Tetragonisca angustula . The D1/D2 sequences of the Brazilian isolates were identical to those of the type strain of K. osmophilus CBS 5499 (=ATCC 22027), indicating that they represent the same species. Phylogenomic analyses using 4038 orthologous genes support the reinstatement of K. osmophilus as a member of the genus Zygosaccharomyces . We, therefore, propose the name Zygosaccharomyces osmophilus comb. nov. (lectotype ATCC 22027; MycoBank no. MB 833739).