An international survey of house dust collected from eleven countries using a modified dilution-to-extinction method yielded 7904 isolates. Of these, six strains morphologically resembled the asexual morphs of Aureobasidium and Hormonema (sexual morphs ?Sydowia), but were phylogenetically distinct. A 28S rDNA phylogeny resolved strains as a distinct clade in Dothideales with families Aureobasidiaceae and Dothideaceae their closest relatives. Further analyses based on the ITS rDNA region, β-tubulin, 28S rDNA, and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit confirmed the distinct status of this clade and divided strains among two consistent subclades. As a result, we introduce a new genus and two new species as Zalariaalba and Z. obscura, and a new family to accommodate them in Dothideales. Zalaria is a black yeast-like fungus, grows restrictedly and produces conidiogenous cells with holoblastic synchronous or percurrent conidiation. Zalaria microscopically closely resembles Hormonema by having only one to two loci per conidiogenous cell, but species of our new genus generally has more restricted growth. Comparing the two species, Z. obscura grows faster on lower water activity (aw) media and produces much darker colonies than Z. alba after 7 d. Their sexual states, if extant, are unknown.
Keywords: 18S; 28S; BenA; Dothidiomycetes; ITS; RPB2; Zalaria; black yeast; xerotolerant fungi.