New Xerophilic Species of from Soil.

Soil is one of the main reservoirs of fungi. The aim of this study was to study the richness of ascomycetes in a set of soil samples from Mexico and Spain. Fungi were isolated after 2% phenol treatment of samples. In that way, several strains of the genus were recovered. A phylogenetic analysis based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS), beta-tubulin (), calmodulin () and RNA polymerase II subunit 2 gene (2) sequences showed that four of these strains had not been described before. produces monoverticillate conidiophores and brownish conidia covered by an ornate brown sheath. and produce sclerotia, and their asexual morph is similar to species in the section (despite all of them pertaining to section -). differs from in having thick-walled peridial cells (thin-walled in ). differs from in the section because it does not produce an asexual morph. Its ascostromata have a peridium composed of thick-walled polygonal cells, and its ascospores are broadly lenticular with two equatorial ridges widely separated by a furrow. All four new species are xerophilic. Despite the genus containing more than 480 known species, they are rarely reported as xerophilic.