Fungal taxonomy and sequence-based nomenclature

The identification and proper naming of microfungi, in particular plant, animal and human pathogens, remains challenging. Molecular identification is becoming the default approach for many fungal groups, and environmental metabarcoding is contributing an increasing amount of sequence data documenting fungal diversity on a global scale. This includes lineages represented only by sequence data. At present, these taxa cannot be formally described under the current nomenclature rules. By considering approaches used in bacterial taxonomy, we propose solutions for the nomenclature of taxa known only from sequences to facilitate consistent reporting and communication in the literature and public sequence repositories. This Perspective discusses fungal taxonomy and provides guidance for the naming of fungal taxa known only from sequences.

Automated summary

Identifying and naming microfungi, especially plant, animal, and human pathogens, remains a challenge. Molecular identification is increasingly used, and environmental metabarcoding is generating a vast amount of sequence data to document global fungal diversity. Solutions for naming taxa known only from sequences are proposed based on bacterial taxonomy methods.