Unveiling Species Diversity Within Early-Diverging Fungi from China XI: Eight New Species of Cunninghamella (Mucoromycota)

The genus <i>Cunninghamella</i> is widely distributed, primarily saprotrophic, occasionally endophytic and phytopathogenic. Analysis based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the large subunit (LSU) of ribosomal DNA, and translation elongation factor 1 alpha (<i>TEF1α</i>), along with morphological comparisons, resulted in a discovery of eight new species. Molecular phylogenetic analyses placed each of these new species within well-supported clades. <i>Cunninghamella crassior</i> sp. nov., with short and thick spines, and <i>C. fusca</i> sp. nov. with brown sporangiola, are sister clades to each other. <i>C. diffundens</i> sp. nov., containing dispersed granules in sporangiola, is closely related to <i>C. irregularis</i> Zhao. <i>C. tuberculata</i> sp. nov., producing sporangiola with nodule-like protrusions. <i>C. fulvicolor</i> sp. nov., sister to <i>C. irregularis</i>, forms yellowish-brown pigmented colonies. <i>C. guttulata</i> sp. nov., with teardrop-shaped sporangiola, and <i>C. inaequalis</i> sp. nov., with uneven sporangiola, are both closely related to <i>C. regularis</i> Zhao. <i>C. monosporangiola</i> sp. nov., characterized by only one sporangiolum on some vesicles, is sister to <i>C. verrucosa</i> Zhao. This study represents the eleventh installment in a series investigating early-diverging fungal diversity in China and expands the number of accepted species in <i>Cunninghamella</i> to 39.