Two new ascomycetous anamorphic yeast species related to Candida friedrichii--Candida jaroonii sp. nov., and Candida songkhlaensis sp. nov.--isolated in Thailand.

In a study of yeast diversity in Thailand, eight strains of hitherto undescribed anamorphic yeasts were isolated: four from insect frass, two from Marasmius sp. fruiting bodies, one from a flower, and one from jackfruit exudates. Phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of 26S ribosomal DNA nucleotide sequences indicated that the eight strains represented two new species related to Candida friedrichii. Genetic separation of the two new species was further supported by DNA-DNA hybridization analysis, which resulted in between-species similarity values of less than 48%, and by electrophoretic karyotyping. The two new species are C. jaroonii sp. nov. (type strain, ST-300(T) = NBRC 103209(T) = BCC 11783(T) = CBS 10790(T)) and C. songkhlaensis sp. nov. (type strain, ST-328(T) = NBRC 103214(T) = BCC 11804(T) = CBS 10791(T)).