Nutritional physiology of species of Capronia

Nutritional physiological and tolerance tests were performed for fourteen s pecies of Capronia (family Herpotrichiellacae). All members of the genus co uld be distinguished on the basis of physiological criteria but none of the species of Capronia were found to be identical physiologically to members of the anamorph genera Cladophialophora, Cladosporium, Exophiana, Nadsoniel la, Phaeococcomyces and Sarcinomyces. Phenetic analysis of physiological da ta revealed that strains assigned to the same taxon on the basis of the res ults of mating studies, morphological characters and molecular data cluster ed together. However, species belonging to the same genera did not form hom ogeneous groups, nor did taxa possessing the same mode(s) of conidiogenesis prove to be physiologically similar. Although the degree of intraspecific variation in physiological profiles could not be assessed for the majority of species of Capronia examined, the results of this study indicate that ph ysiological criteria provide taxonomically useful characters for separating members of this genus. A diagnostic key to species of Capronia based on ph ysiological characters is provided.