Hyphopichia lachancei, f.a., sp. nov., a yeast species from diverse origins

Three strains originating from insect frass in South Africa, yellow foxglove in Hungary and soil in France, were characterised phenotypically and by sequencing of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit and the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS)-region of the rRNA gene. The strains have identical D1/D2 domain sequences and only one strain shows a 1 bp indel in a 9 bp homopolymer A/T repeat within the ITS-region. Based on sequence analysis Hyphopichia burtonii is the closest related species. The investigated strains differ from the type strain of H. burtonii by 1.9% (9 substitutions and an indel) in the D1/D2 domain and by 23 substitutions and 21-22 indels in the ITS-region. Since the sequence variability is very low among the three strains and the sequence divergence with the closely related H. burtonii exceeds the level generally encountered between species we propose the new species Hyphopichia lachancei f.a., sp. nov. to accommodate the three novel strains. From H. burtonii the new species can be distinguished phenotypically by its inability to ferment cellobiose and by the formation of endospores (Holotype: CBS 5999T; Isotype: NCAIM Y.02228T; MycoBank no.: MB833616).