Two new species of Penicillium (Eurotiales, Aspergillaceae) from China based on morphological and molecular analyses

Abstract

Penicillium is a large and significant genus of fungi, exhibiting widespread distribution across diverse substrates. Ongoing taxonomic and nomenclatural revisions have led to an annual increase in the number of newly described species. This study described two new Penicillium species, i.e., P.lentum and P.tibetense, discovered in China. They have been identified and characterized through morphological examination and both single gene and multigene phylogenetic analyses. Based on these analyses, P.lentum was classified within the section Brevicompacta, while P.tibetense was placed in the section Lanata-Divaricata. Both species exhibited the morphological features typical of their respective sections. Penicilliumlentum is characterized by restricted growth with dense colonies on agar media and predominantly generates terverticillate conidiophores. Penicilliumtibetense demonstrates rapid growth on media and has vigorous growth on CYA at 30 °C, producing biverticillate conidiophores. Comprehensive descriptions and detailed illustrations of these new species were presented. A morphological comparison between the new species and their closely related taxa was provided.

Keywords: Aspergillaceae; DNA barcodes; section Brevicompacta; section Lanata-Divaricata; taxonomy.

Figure 1.

ML tree based on the concatenated data set (BenA, CaM, and RPB2) of section Brevicompacta. Penicilliumexpansum CBS 325.48^T was designated as the outgroup. Nodes display bootstrap values (bs) exceeding 70% or posterior probabilities (pp) greater than 0.95. Branches with bs of 95% or higher and pp of 1.00 are depicted in bold. The strain described as the new species P.lentum is indicated with blue text. * Indicates bs = 100% or pp = 1.00, ^T = ex-type strain.

Figure 2.

ML trees for section Brevicompacta based on ITS, BenA, CaM, and RPB2. Penicilliumexpansum CBS 325.48^T was designated as the outgroup. Nodes display bootstrap values (bs) exceeding 70% or posterior probabilities (pp) greater than 0.95. Branches with bs of 95% or higher and pp of 1.00 are depicted in bold. The strain described as the new species P.lentum is indicated with blue text. * Indicates bs = 100% or pp = 1.00, ^T = ex-type strain.

Figure 3.

ML tree based on the concatenated data set (BenA, CaM, and RPB2) of section Lanata-Divaricata (series Simplicissima, Dalearum, and Rolfsiorum). Penicilliumstolkiae CBS 315.67^T was designated as the outgroup. Nodes display bootstrap values (bs) exceeding 70% or posterior probabilities (pp) greater than 0.95. Branches with bs of 95% or higher and pp of 1.00 are depicted in bold. The strain described as the new species P.tibetense is indicated with blue text. * Indicates bs = 100% or pp = 1.00, ^T = ex-type strain.

Figure 4.

ML trees for section Lanata-Divaricata series Rolfsiorum based on ITS, BenA, CaM, and RPB2. Penicilliumstolkiae CBS 315.67^T was designated as the outgroup. Nodes display bootstrap values (bs) exceeding 70% or posterior probabilities (pp) greater than 0.95. Branches with bs of 95% or higher and pp of 1.00 are depicted in bold. The strain described as the new species P.tibetense is indicated with blue text. * Indicates bs = 100% or pp = 1.00, ^T = ex-type strain.

Figure 5.

PenicilliumlentumCGMCC 3.28596. A Colonies on medium at 25 °C for 7d (left to right, top row: CYA, YES, DG18, MEA obverse; second row: CYA reverse, YES reverse, DG18 reverse, CREA obverse) B–E conidiophores F conidia G–I SEM micrograph of conidiophores J SEM micrograph of conidia. Scale bars: 10 μm (B–I); 2 μm (J).

Figure 6.

PenicilliumtibetenseCGMCC 3.28597. A Colonies on medium at 25 °C for 7d (left to right, top row: CYA, YES, DG18, MEA obverse; second row: CYA reverse, YES reverse, DG18 reverse, CREA obverse) B–D conidiophores E conidia F, G SEM micrograph of conidiophores H SEM micrograph of conidia. Scale bars: 10 μm (B–G); 2 μm (H).