Polycephalomyces jinghongensis Hong Yu bis, Z. H. Liu & D. X. Tang

Liu, Zuoheng, Tang, Dexiang, Lu, Yingling, Zhu, Juye, Luo, Lijun, Sun, Tao & Yu, Hong, 2024, Morphology and phylogeny of four new species within Polycephalomycetaceae (Hypocreales) parasitising Ophiocordyceps species, MycoKeys 105, pp. 179-202 : 179-202

Polycephalomyces jinghongensis Hong Yu bis, Z. H. Liu & D. X. Tang sp. nov.

Fig. 3

Etymology.

jinghongensis = Jinghong City, the epithet referred to the nature study trail in Jinghong City, the locality where the type specimen was collected.

Diagnosis.

Polycephalomyces jinghongensis are similar to that of Po. multiperitheciatae regarding the production of α-conidia oval, but Po. jinghongensis differ by synnemata caespitose, white to orange-yellow colour, producing cylindrical β-conidia, parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sp.

Holotype.

China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Jinghong City , parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sp. ( Ophiocordycipitaceae ), on insects buried in soil, with erect synnemata, 23 ° 47 ′ 9 ″ N, 102 ° 51 ′ 41 ″ E, alt. 2053 m, 25 September 2022, Hong Yu bis ( YHH 2206047 ) .

Sexual morph.

Undetermined.

Asexual morph.

Synnemata arising from the stromata of Ophiocordyceps sp. , 0.8–1.6 cm long 0.1–0.3 cm thick, caespitose, unbranched or branched, white to orange-yellow colour. Colonies on PDA growing slowly, attaining a diameter of 1.3–1.7 cm in 3 weeks at 25 ° C, clustered, white and reverse dry yellow. Synnemata emerging after 14 days, tufted, branched and 0.6–10 mm long, showing radiating distributions. Phialides existing in two types: α- and β-phialides. Both types of phialides often reproduce new phialides at their own apices or sides, collarettes not flared, periclinal thickening not visible. α-phialides verticillate and acropleurogenous on conidiophores and solitary on hyphae; lanceolate, tapering gradually from the base to the apex, 4.5–19.5 μm long, 1.4–2.5 μm wide at the base and 0.8–1.6 μm wide at the apex. β-phialides acropleurogenous in whorls of 2–3 or intercalary and terminal on conidiophores and solitary on hyphae; diamond-shaped; tapering abruptly from the base to the apex, 10.4–17.5 μm long, 1.1–2.7 μm wide at the base, and 0.4–1.1 μm wide at the apex. α-conidia oval or long oval shape and occurring in the conidial mass on the agar or on the final portion of synnemata, 1.1–3.4 × 0.8–1.9 μm; β-conidia columns and produced on the surface mycelium of colony, multiple, usually formed as spore balls at the phialidic apex, 2.3–3.1 × 1.2–1.3 μm.

Host.

Parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sp. ( Ophiocordycipitaceae ).

Distribution.

China, Yunnan Province.

Material examined.

China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Jinghong City , parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sp. ( Ophiocordycipitaceae ), on insects buried in soil, with erect synnemata, 23 ° 47 ′ 9 ″ N, 102 ° 51 ′ 41 ″ E, alt. 2053 m, 25 September 2022, D. X. Tang . Paratypes: YHH 2206010 ; other collections: YHH 2207049 ; YHH 2206053 . Culture ex-type: YFCC 02959283 ; Other cultures: YFCC 02959284 , YFCC 02959285 , YFCC 02959286 .

Notes.

Polycephalomyces jinghongensis was sister to Po. multiperitheciatae (Fig. 1 : BS = 100 %, BPP = 1.00). However, Po. multiperitheciatae differs by 6 / 556 bp in ITS, 3 / 898 bp in SSU, 2 / 829 bp in LSU, 23 / 913 bp in TEF- 1 α, 4 / 679 bp in RPB 2 from Po. jinghongensis . Po. jinghongensis was distinct from other species of Polycephalomyces by the white to orange-yellow colour of the caespitose synnemata (Table 3 ). Thus, Po. jinghongensis was introduced as a new species under the genus Polycephalomyces .

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree of Polycephalomycetaceae, based on the concatenation of ITS, SSU, LSU, TEF- 1 α, RPB 1 and RPB 2 sequence data. The tree was generated from an alignment of 6,384 sites and 113 taxa. The phylogeny was inferred using the IQ-tree. The Maximum likelihood bootstrap values greater than 75 % (on the left) and the Bayesian posterior probabilities over 0.75 (on the right) were indicated above the nodes. The new species were indicated in back bold font.

Figure 3. Morphological features of Polycephalomyces jinghongensis (Holotype: YHH 2209031) a overview of Polycephalomyces jinghongensis and its host b synnemata on the insect c, d colony obverse and reverse e – g β-phialides h β-conidia i, k, l α-phialides j α-conidia. Scale Bars: 2 cm (a, c, d); 0.5 cm (b); 20 μm (e – h, j); 10 μm (i, k. l).