Aspergillus terreus Thom

IMI 17294

Macroscopic characters

Colony diameter after seven days incubation on CYA at 25°C 30-45 mm; conidia cinnamon brown, brownish orange or caramel (5-6B-D3); exudate hyaline, brown or absent; reverse yellow, brownish orange or brown; soluble pigment absent or colored as reverse. Colonies on MEA 29-39 mm in diameter; conidia cinnamon to greyish red; exudate absent; reverse yellow to reddish yellow, soluble pigment absent or yellowish. Colony diameter on CY20S 32-52 mm; conidia greyish orange to dull red (6-8B-C2); exudate absent; reverse orange brown; soluble pigment absent, yellow, or orange brown. Colonies on CZ 20-29 mm in diameter, conidia often sparse, tan to buff in color, exudate absent to hyaline or orangish; reverse yellow to brown; soluble pigment absent or yellow to yellow-brown. Colony diameter on CYA at 37°C 50-66 mm. This isolate produces yellow mycelia on some media.

Microscopic characters

Stipes 100-280 um long, smooth-walled, hyaline. Vesicles 11-1 5 um wide, pyriform to subglobose in shape, hyaline in color. Aspergilli biseriate. Conidia 1.6-2.5 um long, globose to sub-globose, smooth-walled.

Note

The cinnamon brown colonies with long, compactly columnar conidial heads make this species distinctive. A. terreus is occasionally reported as a human pathogen.

Plate 8. Aspergillus terreus Thom IMI 17294

A. Colony on CYA, 7 days at 25°C.
B. Macrograph of the conidial heads showing columnar heads.
C-D. Conidiophores: C. 1100x; D. 1800x.
E. Conidia 1400x.

Aspergillus Reference Cultures