An isolate of Arthroderma benhamiae with Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. erinacei anamorph isolated from a four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) in Japan.

A female four-toed hedgehog probably imported from Africa and kept as a pet by a family suffered from depilation and mite (Caparinia tripilis) infection. Depilated quills were inoculated on a commercially available medium and an isolate of the dermatophytes was obtained. A giant colony after 14 days incubation on yeast extract Sabourauds agar had a central umbo with white granular surface and a yellow pigment ring in the reverse. The hedgehog isolate produced numerous elongated microconidia singly attached along the sides of hyphae. Macroconidia were somewhat irregular in shape and size and 2-6 septa. Abundant intermediate sized spores between micro- and macro conidia and few spirals were observed. Hair perforation and urease activity tests were positive. Maximum growth temperature was 40 C. In the mating tests using the tester strains of both African and Americano-European races of Arthroderma benhamiae, the strain produced numerous gymnothecia only when paired with the African race mating type minus(-). In addition, 591 bases of the internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal RNA gene including the 5.8S region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) were sequenced and corresponded to those of T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei (DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank accession numbers Z97996 and Z97997) by more than 99.7%. Therefore, our case is the first isolation of A. benhamiae with T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei anamorph in Japan.