422 Persoonia – Volume 42, 2019 Leucosporidium himalayensis Fungal Planet description sheets 423 Fungal Planet 927 – 19 July 2019 Leucosporidium himalayensis S.M. Singh, Roh. Sharma & Shouche, sp. nov. Etymology. Name reflects the Himalaya, the place where this fungus was Notes — An initial BLASTn similarity search using the LSU collected. sequence of the ex-type culture with the NCBI nucleotide data- Classification — Leucosporidiaceae, Leucosporidiales, In­ base showed the highest similarity to Leucosporidium fragarium certae sedis, Microbotryomycetes. CBS 6254 (GenBank NG_058330; 99.5 % identity, 97 % query cover) followed by Sampaiozyma ingeniosa CBS 4240 (Gen- Yeast colonies on SD agar Petri dishes are creamy-white, rais- Bank NG_058398; 96.60 % identity; query coverage 96 %). ed, margin entire. In external appearance, the colonies have a The BLASTn similarity search of the ex-type ITS sequence with glabrous texture. Cells are subglobose to ovoid, 2–5 µm, oc- NCBIs database showed the highest similarity to Leucospori­ curring singly and budding is mostly polar, occurring frequently dium fragarium CBS 6254 (GenBank NR_073287; 94.45 % and repeatedly from the site of the primary budding scar. Sexual identity, 99 % query coverage) followed by Leucosporidium reproduction was not observed. Pseudohyphae formation ab- drummii CBS 11562 (GenBank NR_137036; 95.02 % identity, sent. Growth occurred at 15 °C which is very similar to the 99 % query coverage). The neighbour-joining (NJ) phyloge- primary habitat of this strain. Optimum growth was observed netic analyses of ITS and LSU rRNA regions was done using after 15 d. The following compounds are assimilated: D-xylose, sequences of other species of Leucosporidium. The combine D-saccharose, L-arabinose, Calcium-2-keto-gluconate. The fol- phylogenetic tree topology of both regions clearly showed that lowing compounds are not assimilated: D-lactose, D-maltose, strain RNF079 is novel. D-galactose, D-raffinose, D-trehalose, Glycerol, Inositol, Sorbi- tol, Adonitol, Methyl-Alpha-D-Glucopyranoside, D-cellobiose, D-melezitose, Xylitol. Culture characteristics — On CMA the colonies are white- cream, round, margin entire, ± 0.5 mm after 10 d. Habitat — Powdery windblown dust on glaciers (Cryoco- nites). Distribution — India (Chhota Shigri glacier, Gramphu-Batal- Kaza Rd, Himachal Pradesh). Typus. INDIA, Gramphu-Batal-Kaza Road, Chandra river basin, Pir Pinjal range, Lahul valley, Himachal Pradesh, cryoconites, 4 Aug. 2015, P. Sharma & S.M. Singh MCC 1733 (holotype RNF079 as metabolically inactive culture, ITS and LSU sequences GenBank MK601695 and MK601698, MycoBank MB823364). Leucosporidium golubevii PYCC 5759T (AY212997) ITS LSU 98 57 Leucosporidiella yakutica VKM Y-2837T (AY212989) 99 Leucosporidium himalayensis MCC 1733 (MK601698) 97 Leucosporidium creatinivorum CBS 8620 (AF444629) 48 Rhodotorula fragaria (AF070428) 96 Leucosporidium scottii CBS 5930 (AF444495) 91 Rhodotorula muscorum (AF070433) 80 Leucosporidium muscorum CBS 6921 (AF444527) Leucosporidium escuderoi 131209-E2A-C3-II-lev (JN181009) 88 Leucosporidium escuderoi 131209-E2A-C3-II-lev (JN197600) 82 Leucosporidium drummii AY220 (FN428965) Leucosporidium himalayensis MCC 1733 (MK601695) Leucosporidium scottii CBS 5930 (AY213000) 57 59 Leucosporidium fragarium CBS 6254 (AF444530) 77 Leucosporidiella yakutica VKM Y-2837T (AY213001) 95 Leucosporidium golubevii PYCC 5759T (AY212987) 60 Leucosporidium creatinivorum CBS 8620 (AF189925) Leucosporidium intermedium CBS 7226 (AF444564) 65 Leucosporidium fellii CBS 7287 (AF189907) Leucosporidium krtinense KT96 (KU187882) 98 Leucosporidium intermedium CBS 7226 (AF189889) Leucosporidium fellii CBS 7287 (AF444508) 51 Rhodotorula nothofagi CBS 8166 (AF444537) Leucosporidium krtinense KT96 (KU187886) 0.020 0.0050 Phylogenetic relationship of Leucosporidium himalayensis with other members of the genus based on a neighbour-joining tree of ITS and LSU sequences using MEGA v. 7.0.21. The bootstrap values of above 50 % are given at the nodes using 1 000 replications. Colour illustrations. India, Himachal Pradesh, Chhota Shigri glacier, Chandra river basin, Lahul valley. Yeast cells at 100× under phase contrast and light (CMA after 10 d); yeast cells at 40× (SDA after 15 d). Scale bars = 5 µm. Shiv Mohan Singh, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India; e-mail: [email protected] Rohit Sharma & Yogesh S. Shouche, National Centre for Microbial Resource (NCMR), National Centre for Cell Science, S.P. Pune University, Ganeshkhind, Pune-411 007, Maharashtra, India; e-mail: [email protected] & [email protected] © 2019 Naturalis Biodiversity Center & Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute.