Kyung J. Kwon-ChungJohn E. BennettBrian L. WickesWieland MeyerChristina A. CuomoKurt R. WollenburgTihana A. BicanicElizabeth CastañedaYun C. ChangJianghan ChenMassimo CogliatiFrançoise DromerDavid EllisScott G. FillerMatthew C. FisherThomas S. HarrisonSteven M. HollandShigeru KohnoJames W. KronstadMarcia LazeraStuart M. LevitzMichail S. LionakisRobin C. MayPopchai NgamskulrongrojPeter G. PappasJohn R. PerfectVolker RickertsTania C. SorrellThomas J. WalshPeter R. WilliamsonJianping XuAdrian M. ZelaznyArturo CasadevallNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious DiseasesUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at San AntonioThe University of SydneyWestmead Institute for Medical ResearchBroad InstituteSt George's University of LondonInstituto Nacional de SaludChangzheng HospitalUniversità degli Studi di MilanoInstitut Pasteur, ParisThe University of AdelaideHarbor-UCLA Medical CenterImperial College LondonNagasaki UniversityMichael Smith LaboratoriesFundacao Oswaldo CruzUniversity of Massachusetts Medical SchoolUniversity of BirminghamMahidol UniversityUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamDuke University School of MedicineRobert Koch InstitutWeill Cornell MedicineMcMaster UniversityHainan Medical UniversityNational Institutes of Health, BethesdaThe Johns Hopkins School of Medicine2018-12-212019-03-142018-12-212019-03-142017-01-01mSphere. Vol.2, No.1 (2017)237950422-s2.0-85019669771https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/42058© 2017 Kwon-Chung et al. Cryptococcosis is a potentially lethal disease of humans/animals caused by Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii. Distinction between the two species is based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Recently, it was proposed that C. neoformans be divided into two species and C. gattii into five species based on a phylogenetic analysis of 115 isolates. While this proposal adds to the knowledge about the genetic diversity and population structure of cryptococcosis agents, the published genotypes of 2,606 strains have already revealed more genetic diversity than is encompassed by seven species. Naming every clade as a separate species at this juncture will lead to continuing nomenclatural instability. In the absence of biological differences between clades and no consensus about how DNA sequence alone can delineate a species, we recommend using "Cryptococcus neoformans species complex" and "C. gattii species complex" as a practical intermediate step, rather than creating more species. This strategy recognizes genetic diversity without creating confusion.Mahidol UniversityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1128/mSphere.00357-16