Ophiocordyceps albastroma Hong Yu bis, Y. D. Dai, T. Sun and Y. Chen

Sun, Tao, Chen, Yue, Wang, Dong, Dai, Yongdong, Zou, Weiqiu, Luo, Run, Dong, Quanying & Yu, Hong, 2024, Mitogenomics, phylogeny and morphology reveal two new entomopathogenic species of Ophiocordyceps (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) from south-western China, MycoKeys 109, pp. 49-72 : 49-72

Ophiocordyceps albastroma Hong Yu bis, Y. D. Dai, T. Sun and Y. Chen sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Etymology.

The epithet ‘ albastroma ’ refers to white stromata this species.

Holotype.

China, Yunnan Province, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Lanping County, the Bailongtan Mountains (26 ° 37 ' N, 99 ° 37 ' E, alt. 3200 m), isolated from the Hepialidae , 26 July 2016, Hong Yu, (holotype: YHH 1507001 ; ex - type living culture: YFCC 15079242 ).

Description.

Teleomorph: Stromata arising from Hepialidae larva buried in soil, slender, solitary or gregarious, unbranched, 5.1–11.8 cm long, 0.08–0.1 cm wide at the base and 0.02–0.03 cm wide at the top. The morphology of perithecia and asci was not observed, as the collections did not include any specimens that had reached sexual maturity.

Anamorph: Hirsutella - type anamorph. Colonies on PDA slow-growing, attaining a diameter of 13–15 mm after 30 days at 20 ° C. Colonies pale yellow, high mycelial density, felty, texture hard, microtomentum, white margin, with star ray folds; reverse pale brown. Hyphae hyaline, branched, smooth-walled, 1.4–2.3 μm wide. Phialides from aerial mycelium straight to slightly flexuose, solitary, cylindrical, usually with a slightly swollen basal part, tapering into the apex form a long neck, 6.5–21.3 × 0.4–1.3 μm, 0.6–1.6 µm wide at the base and 0.2–0.7 µm wide at the apex. Conidia usually one-celled, occasionally two-celled, hyaline, smooth, ovoid to ellipsoidal, 2.2–3.6 × 1.1–1.9 µm, conidia secrete mucus.

Host: Larvae of Hepialidae .

Habitat.

Parasitic on Hepialidae larvae in the alpine soil amongst the Iris spp.

Distribution.

The Bailongtan Mountains, Lanping County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.

Additional specimens examined.

China, Yunnan Province, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Lanping County, The Bailongtan Mountains (26 ° 37 ' N, 99 ° 37 ' E, alt. 3200 m), isolated from the Hepialidae , 26 July 2016, Hong Yu, dried culture on PDA (paratype YHH 1507002 , ex-paratype living culture YFCC 15079243 ) .

Notes.

Ophiocordyceps albastroma was closely phylogenetically related to H. illustris , O. macroacicularis and O. xuefengensis . The morphological characteristic common to all four species was the formation of stromata on the head of the host. However, the length of the stromata varies, O. albastroma had a stromata length longer than O. macroacicularis , but shorter than O. xuefengensis (Table 1 ). The phialides of O. albastroma was smaller than that of H. illustris and O. albastroma had a conidia length much shorter than H. illustris . Moreover, the greatest peculiarity of O. albastroma was the white stromata. Thus, the morphological features and molecular phylogenetic results supported that O. albastroma was a new species in the genus Ophiocordyceps .

Figures

Figure 2. Ophiocordyceps albastroma A – C specimen in the field D colony obverse and colony reverse on PDA with peptone and yeast extract powder E – L conidiogenous cells and conidia. Scale bars: 4 µm (E – L).