Aureobasidium melanogenum Zalar, Gostincar & Gunde-Cim.
Authors: Senwanna, Chanokned, Kodchasee, Pratthana, Kathongthung, Chirayut, Samarakoon, Milan C., Khunnamwong, Pannida, Kumla, Jaturong, Suwannarach, Nakarin
Type: Taxonomic treatment
Published: 2026-08-03
Keywords: Biodiversity, Taxonomy, Fungi, Ascomycota, Dothideomycetes, Dothideales, Saccotheciaceae, Aureobasidium, Aureobasidium melanogenum

<p><i>Aureobasidium melanogenum</i> (Herm. - Nijh.) Zalar, Gostincar & Gunde-Cim., BMC Genomics 15: 16 (2014)</p><p>Fig. 16</p><p><b>Cultural characteristics.</b></p><p>After 14 days of incubation at 25 ° C in the dark, colonies on PDA reaching 45–65 mm diam., surface flat, spreading with entire margin, zonate, orange white (5 A 2), with brownish gray (4 E 2) to olive brown (4 E 6) at the margin; on MEA reaching 65–70 mm diam., surface flat, spreading with entire margin, velvety, zonate, dark brown (6 F 8) at center, becoming brownish orange (6 C 8), with brownish gray (4 E 2) and white at the margin; on OA 60–75 mm diam., surface flat, spreading with irregular margin, velvety, grayish orange (6 B 5), with brownish gray (4 E 2) at the margin.</p><p><b>Description.</b></p><p><i><i>Anamorph</i> in vitro</i> dematiaceous hyphomycetes. <i>Vegetative hyphae</i> (2.3 –) 3.0–5.5 (– 8.0) μm wide, mostly hyaline, light brown to brown, branched, septate, constricted at the septa, smooth, thin-walled, getting darker and thicker with age. <i>Conidiogenous cells</i> (3.8 –) 5.3–11.0 (– 12.5) × (3.2 –) 4.0–7.5 (– 8.3) μm (<i>x ̄</i> = 8.7 × 5.3 μm, <i>n</i> = 25), undifferentiated, intercalary, rarely terminal, producing conidia percurrently from indistinct lateral denticles, giving rise to conidia that aggregate in a mucoid mass, or differentiated from hyphae, hyaline to lightly melanized. <i>Conidia</i> (3.6 –) 5.5–8.5 (– 11.4) × (2.0 –) 2.8–6.0 μm (<i>x ̄</i> = 7.1 × 4.1 μm, <i>n</i> = 150), obovoid to ellipsoid, or subglobose, hyaline, becoming lightly melanized with age, aseptate, occasionally with an indistinct truncated base and a hilum, guttulate, smooth-walled. <i>Chlamydospores</i> (10.0) 11.5–14.0 (– 16.3) μm wide (<i>x ̄</i> = 12.8 μm, <i>n</i> = 50), frequent produced in aerial hyphae, mostly intercalary, solitary or in branched chains, subglobose to ellipsoidal, pigmented, light to dark brown, smooth-, thick-walled, septate, constricted near the septa. <i>Endoconidia</i> absent.</p><p><b>Cardinal temperatures for growth.</b></p><p>Minimum 10 ° C, optimum in the range of 25 ° C to 30 ° C. No growth at 4 ° C and 37 ° C.</p><p><b>Strains examined.</b></p><p>THAILAND • Chiang Mai, Mueang District, Chang Phueak, isolated from jasmine flower (<i>Jasminum sambac</i>; <i>Oleaceae</i>, <i>Lamiales</i>), Jul 2024, P. Kodchasee, C. Senwanna, J. Kumla and N. Suwannarach, living culture = SDBR-CMU 817; Phayao Province, Mueang District, isolated from holy basil flower (<i>Ocimum tenuiflorum</i>; <i>Lamiaceae</i>; <i>Lamiales</i>), Aug 2024, P. Kodchasee, C. Senwanna, J. Kumla and N. Suwannarach, living culture = SDBR-CMU 855.</p><p><b>Habitat and distribution.</b></p><p>Flowers of <i>Jasminum sambac</i> and <i>Ocimum tenuiflorum</i> in Thailand (this study). <i>Aureobasidium melanogenum</i> is found worldwide in diverse environments and materials, including air, soil, water, and indoor and plant surfaces, and is also considered an opportunistic human pathogen (Zalar et al. 2008; Gostinčar et al. 2014; Nasr et al. 2018; da Silva et al. 2024; Černoša et al. 2025; Patel et al. 2025).</p><p><b>Notes.</b></p><p>The multilocus phylogenetic tree (Fig. 2) showed that strains SDBR-CMU 817 and SDBR-CMU 855 clustered with other strains of <i>A. melanogenum</i>. The ITS, LSU, and <i>tef 1</i> sequences were identical (100 % similarity) to those of <i>A. melanogenum</i> CBS 105.22 (ex-type), whereas the <i>rpb 2</i> and <i>tub</i> sequences showed 98.90 % and 98.00 % similarity, respectively. The morphology of strains SDBR-CMU 817 and SDBR-CMU 855 is consistent with the species description of <i>A. melanogenum</i> provided by Zalar et al. (2008); therefore, both strains were identified as <i>A. melanogenum</i>.</p>