The status of Endomyces scopularum - a filamentous fungus and two yeasts

Given the clouded history of species of Endomyces and the Endomycetales, we determined partial sequences of nuclear small and large subunits of the ri bosomal RNA gene for three cultures of Endomyces scopularum, a parasitic fu ngus of agaric basidiocarps, in order to clarify the phylogenetic position of the species within the ascomycetes. As the result of sequence comparison s, the three cultures were divided into two distinct groups in phylogenetic trees. Strain CBS 131.86 is in an ophiostomatalean clade in the euascomyce tes. By comparison, CBS 154.92 and CBS 155.92, which have identical sequenc es in both subunits of rDNA, are in the Saccharomycetales clade. Candida fu kazawae, C. sagamina, and C. fungicola, inhabitants of basidiocarps, were t he closest taxa to the two yeast cultures.