Some Studies of Emericellopsis

Abstract

During a survey of soil fungi in the Rocky Mountain region a Cephalosporium was frequently isolated whose perfect stage belongs to the genus Emericellopsis of the Eurotiales. When first observed several years ago it was of interest, as at that time no member of that genus had been reported from North America. Van Beyma, Malan, and Stolk have described species from Europe and Africa. More recently Cain has described a species from Canada and Grosklags and Swift described one as a perfect stage of the antibiotic-producing Cephalosporium salmosynnematum Roberts. Also, Routien recently isolated an Emericellopsis from a soil sample from Indiana. When the Colorado form was found, the question arose whether it was new or a variant of one of the named species. To check on its identity cultures of the named species were obtained and comparisons made. This led to a more detailed study of the genus as a whole. The genus Emericellopsis is a small one of five described species and one variety, as follows: E. terricola van Beyma-Holland soil 1937; E. terricola var. glabra van Beyma-Holland soil 1939; E. mirabilis (Malan) Stolk-Italian soil 1952; E. minima Stolk-East African soil 1955; E. humicola Cain-Canadian soil 1956; E. salmosynnemata Grosklags and Swift 1957. These forms have all been adequately described by their respective authors, and so it does not seem necessary to repeat the complete descriptions. As the writer has accumulated additional data on the representatives of the genus over several years it may be worth while to submit them as an amplification of our knowledge of Emericellopsis. In addition to the preceding species and their isolates there are those Colorado isolates used in the studies, Routien's isolate from Indiana soil and Cephalosporium salmosynnematum from the American Type Culture Laboratory, Washington, D. C. Some of the cultures studied were obtained through the courtesy of the Centraalbureau voor Schimmel Cultures, Baarn, Holland.1