Sporopachydermia lactativora on YM.
Image Credit: Mark Butcher.

Sporopachydermia lactativora, originally named Cryptococcus lactativorus, was isolated from Antartic seawater in 1966 and is named for its ability to utilize lactic acid. The lack of a visible capsule, inability to assimilate disaccharides and the trisaccharide raffinose was used to separate this from other Cryptococcus. More recently, this species has been isolated as a xylose-utilizing yeast from buffalo feces in Thailand.

In culture, the cells appear ovoid, elipsoidal to elongate and occationally curved. S. lactativora does not ferment sugars and does not form pseudo or true mycelia.

The Sporopachydermia lactativora genome was sequenced as part of the 1000 Fungal Genomes Project.