Cyphellophora and its relatives in Phialophora: biodiversity and possible role in human infection Peiying Feng & Qiaoyun Lu & M. J. Najafzadeh & A. H. G. Gerrits van den Ende & Jiufeng Sun & Ruoyu Li & Liyan Xi & V. A. Vicente & Wei Lai & Chun Lu & G. S. de Hoog Received: 30 May 2012 / Accepted: 23 July 2012 # Mushroom Research Foundation 2012 Abstract Cyphellophora is a genus of black yeast-like fungi characterised by having simple phialides with multiseptate, curved conidia. Judging from SSU and LSU data, Cyphellophora was found to be located in a well-supported clade within the Chaetothyriales com- prising a number of species occurring on human skin and nail. Cyphellophora is phylogenetically close to Phialophora europaea, P. reptans and P. oxyspora, though morphologically these species produce single- celled phialoconidia rather than multiseptate ones. Pseudomicrodochium suttonii and P. fusarioides have dark colonies and phylogenetically fit in with Cyphel- lophora; the type species of Pseudomicrodochium, P. aciculare, has similar, septate conidia but has a hyaline thallus. In the present study, multilocus phylogenetic analyses were combined with morphology and physiol- ogy. Sequences of the internal transcribed spacer re- gion, the DNA dependent RNA polymerase II largest subunit and the partial beta tubulin gene were analysed for a set of 30 strains. Two novel species, Cyphello- phora pauciseptata and Phialophora ambigua were discovered. Cyphellophora eucalypti was reduced to synonymy of C. guyanensis. The role of the studied fungi between colonization and infection of human skin was discussed. Putative virulence factors for these black yeast-like fungi were hypothesized to be the Taxonomic novelties: Cyphellophora pauciseptata P. Feng & de Hoog, Phialophora ambigua P. Feng & de Hoog. P. Feng : W. Lai : C. Lu Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China P. Feng : Q. Lu : M. J. Najafzadeh : A. H. G. Gerrits van den Ende : J. Sun : V. A. Vicente : G. S. de Hoog (*) Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, P.O. Box 85167, 3508 AD Utrecht, the Netherlands e-mail: de.hoog@cbs.knaw.nl Q. Lu Xiangyang Central Hospital, Xiangyang, China Q. Lu : R. Li : G. S. de Hoog Peking University Health Science Center, Research Center for Medical Mycology, Beijing, China M. J. Najafzadeh Department of Parasitology and Mycology, and Cancer Molecular Pathology Research Center, Ghaem Hospital, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran M. J. Najafzadeh : G. S. de Hoog Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands J. Sun Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, Department of Parasitology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China L. Xi : G. S. de Hoog Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China V. A. Vicente Department of Basic Pathology, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil Fungal Diversity DOI 10.1007/s13225-012-0194-5