Taxogenomic analyses of Starmerella gilliamiae f.a, sp. nov. and Starmerella monicapupoae f.a., sp. nov., two novel species isolated from flowers and insects. null

Four yeast isolates collected from flowers in different ecosystems in Brazil, one from fruit of Nothofagus alpina in Argentina, two from pods of Neltuma chilensis in Chile, and one obtained from the proventriculus a of female bumblebee in Canada were shown by the analysis of the sequences of the ITS region and D1/D2 domains of the large subunit of the rRNA gene to represent two novel species belonging to the genus Starmerella. These species are described here as Starmerella gilliamiae f.a, sp. nov. (CBS16166T.), and Starmerella monicapupoae f.a., sp. nov. (CBS16165T). A phylogenomic analysis showed that S. gilliamiae belongs to a subclade that contains S. opuntiae, S. aceti, and S. apicola. The same analyses showed that Starmerella monicapupoae is phylogenetically related to S. riodocensis. The two isolates of Starmerella monicapupoae were obtained from flowers in Brazil and are probably vectored by insects that visit these substrates. Starmerella gilliamiae has a wide geographical distribution having been isolated in flowers in Brazil, fruit in Argentina, plant tissues in Chile, and a bumblebee in Canada.