Two new Cladosporiumspecies from a quartzite cave in Brazil

Caves are underground and natural environments mainly found in rocky terrain. Caves have a very specific microclimate, which benefits the occurrence of specific fungi. In recent studies, researchers have observed that caves harbour a great diversity of fungi. However, studies on fungal diversity in Brazilian caves are still incipient. In September 2019, airborne spore and soil samples were collected from the Monte Cristo cave, in the Southern Espinhaço Range, Diamantina, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Two Cladosporiumsingle‐spore isolates, among other genera, were obtained from these samples. This study aimed to characterise these two fungal isolates based on their DNA sequence data and morphology. Phylogenetic analyses of the rDNA-ITS, ACTand TEF1-αloci revealed that the isolates belonged to the Cladosporium cladosporioidesspecies complex. Both isolates did not cluster with any known species and were formally described and named herein as C. diamantinenseand C. speluncae. This study presents taxonomic novelties and contributes to the knowledge about the fungal diversity in Brazilian caves.