f.a., sp. nov., a novel apiculate yeast species isolated from rotting wood.

Two apiculate strains (NYNU 181072 and NYNU 181083) of a bipolar budding yeast species were isolated from rotting wood samples collected in Xishuangbanna Tropical Rainforest in Yunnan Province, southwest PR China. On the basis of phenotypic characteristics and the results of phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the actin () gene, the two strains were found to represent a single novel species of the genus , for which the name f.a., sp. nov. (holotype CICC 33364; MycoBank MB 847437) is proposed. In the phylogenetic tree, sp. nov. showed a close relationship with , , and . sp. nov. differed from , the most closely related known species, by 1.2 % substitutions in the D1/D2 domain, 2.5 % substitutions in the ITS region and 5.4 % substitutions in the gene, respectively. Physiologically, sp. nov. can also be distinguished from by its ability to assimilate d-gluconate.