Seven resorcylic acid lactones (RALs) including five new analog rhinoclactones, A–E (1, 2, 4–6), were isolated from an endophytic fungus Rhinocladiella similis in the plant Agriophyllum squarrosum collected from the Tengger Desert of the Ningxia Province, China. The structures of these new compounds were determined by HR-ESI-MS (High Resolution Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry), NMR data, modified Mosher’s method, and X-ray diffraction experiments. All compounds isolated from this fungus possessed the 16-OMe/14-OH, not the common 16-OH/14-OH or 16-OH/14-OMe groups on the aromatic ring, which are rarely found in nature. Compound 7 displayed cytotoxic activities against HCT116 and HeLa cancer cell lines. The possible biosynthesis of 1–7 is suggested, and the potential ecological roles of these fungal secondary metabolites is discussed.

AspergillussectionsUstiandCavernicolarumare accommodated in the subgenusNidulantes. In the present study, a polyphasic approach using morphology and multi-gene phylogeny was applied to investigate the taxonomy of these two sections. Based on the phylogenetic analysis,AspergillussectionUstiincludes 25 species, which can be assigned to four series:Calidousti,Deflecti,MonodiorumandUsti. Aspergillus sigarelliis newly described in this section and this species was isolated from a cigarette from PR China and belongs to seriesCalidousti. It is clearly distinct from other members in this series based on ITS,BenA,CaMandRPB2sequences.AspergillussectionUstimembers likeA. calidoustusandA. granulosusare important opportunistic pathogens, it is speculative that more pathogenetic species will be found by using polyphasic taxonomy approaches.AspergillussectionCavernicolarumincludes five species, the growth rates on agar media and size and ornamentation of conidia are important characters for differentiating species in sectionCavernicolarum.

Members of Scytalidium are primarily saprotrophic and are known for their ability to colonize a variety of substrates, including soil, decaying plant material, and wood. During an investigation of soil microfungi in Capsicum annuum cultivation areas of China, seven Scytalidium isolates were obtained from soil samples collected in Guizhou. In this study, we revised the genus Scytalidium by combining morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated ITS–LSU sequences. The results showed that Scytalidium sensu stricto comprises 16 species, including the type species S. lignicola and four novel species proposed in this study (S. chlamydosporum, S. guizhouense, S. rodionovae, and S. tongrenense). Ten species were excluded, and six species were treated as uncertain due to the lack of available molecular sequences. This study revised the genus Scytalidium, expanded its species diversity and geographical distribution, and lays the foundation for future taxonomic research on this genus.

Aspergillus subgenus Nidulantes includes species with emericella-like ascomata and asexual species. Subgenus Nidulantes is the second largest subgenus of Aspergillus and consists of nine sections. In this study, agricultural soils were sampled from 12 provinces and autonomous regions in China. Based on primary BLAST analyses, seven of 445 Aspergillus isolates showed low similarity with existing species. A polyphasic investigation, including phylogenetic analysis of partial ITS, β-tubulin, calmodulin, and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit genes, provided evidence that these isolates were distributed among four new species (Aspergillus guangdongensis, A. guangxiensis, A. sichuanensis and A. tibetensis) in sections Aenei, Ochraceorosei, and Sparsi of subgenus Nidulantes. Illustrated morphological descriptions are provided for each new taxon.

While investigating culturable mycobiota in epiphytic soils found in urban tree holes from Guizhou Province, China, a new genus along with two new species of the family Wiesneriomycetaceae were discovered based on a combination of morphological characteristics, molecular evidence, and physiological features. Phylogenetic analyses of SSU, ITS, LSU, and tef1 sequences indicate that our new collections form a distinct clade; thus, Chlamydosporoidesgen. nov. is proposed. This genus is distinguished from other genera in Wiesneriomycetaceae by the absence of acropetal conidial chains, setae, synnemata, sporodochia, or stromata. We describe and illustrate the new genus Chlamydosporoides and the new species (C. guizhouensissp. nov. and C. sinensissp. nov.) herein, and we discuss their phenotypic and genotypic differences from allied genera.