Four novel Candida species in the Candida albicans/Lodderomyces elongisporus clade isolated from the gut of flower beetles.

Flower-visiting beetles belonging to three species of Cetoniidae were collected on three mountains near Beijing, China, and yeasts were isolated from the gut of the insects collected. Based on the 26S rDNA D1/D2 domain and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequence analysis and phenotypic characterization, four novel anamorphic yeast species located in the Candida albicans/Lodderomyces elongisporus clade were identified from 18 of the strains isolated. The new species and type strains are designated as Candida blackwellae AS 2.3639(T) (=CBS 10843(T)), Candida jiufengensis AS 2.3688(T) (=CBS 10846(T)), Candida oxycetoniae AS 2.3656(T) (=CBS 10844(T)), and Candida pseudojiufengensis AS 2.3693(T) (=CBS 10847(T)). C. blackwellae sp. nov. was basal to the branch formed by C. albicans and C. dubliniensis with moderately strong bootstrap support. The closest relative of C. oxycetoniae was L. elongisporus. C. jiufengensis sp. nov. and C. pseudojiufengensis sp. nov. were closely related with each other and formed a branch in a subclade represented by C. parapsilosis and L. elongisporus.