Isolation of an emerging thermotolerant medically important Fungus, Lichtheimia ramosa from soil

Lichtheimia ramosa, a ubiquitous clinically important mould was isolated during a screen for thermotolerant fungi obtained from soil on a freshly burnt field in Ikorodu, Lagos State. In the laboratory, as expected it grew more luxuriantly on Potato Dextrose Agar than on size limiting Rose Bengal Agar. The isolate had mycelia with a white cottony appearance on both media. It was then identified based on morphological appearance, microscopy and by fungal Internal Transcribed Spacer ITS-5.8S rDNA sequencing. This might be the first report of molecular identification of L. ramosa isolate from soil in Lagos, as previously documented information could not be obtained.