Candida heliconiae sp. nov., Candida picinguabensis sp. nov. and Candida saopaulonensis sp. nov., three ascomycetous yeasts from Heliconia velloziana (Heliconiaceae).

Strains belonging to three novel yeast species, Candida heliconiae (four isolates), Candida picinguabensis (three isolates) and Candida saopaulonensis (two isolates), were recovered in the year 2000 from water of flower bracts of Heliconia velloziana L. Emigd. (Heliconiaceae) found in a forest ecosystem site in an Atlantic rainforest of south-eastern Brazil. C. picinguabensis and C. saopaulonensis were nearly identical in morphology and physiology, but sequence divergence in the D1/D2 domain of the large-subunit rDNA indicated that they should be regarded as different species. They belong to the Metschnikowiaceae clade. C. heliconiae had affinities to Pichia mexicana and related species, but was genetically isolated from all currently accepted species in that group. The type strains are C. heliconiae UNESP 00-91C1T (=CBS 10000T=NRRL Y-27813T), C. picinguabensis UNESP 00-89T (=CBS 9999T=NRRL Y-27814T) and C. saopaulonensis UNESP 00-99T (=CBS 10001T=NRRL Y-27815T).