Ophiocordyceps musicaudata (Z. Q. Liang & A. Y. Liu) X. C. Peng & T. C. Wen, 2024

Peng, Xing-Can, Wen, Ting-Chi, Wei, De-Ping, Liao, Yu-Hong, Wang, Yi, Zhang, Xian, Wang, Gui-Ying, Zhou, Yun, Tangtrakulwanich, Khanobporn & Liang, Jian-Dong, 2024, Two new species and one new combination of Ophiocordyceps (Hypocreales, Ophiocordycipitaceae) in Guizhou, MycoKeys 102, pp. 245-266 : 245

Ophiocordyceps musicaudata (Z. Q. Liang & A. Y. Liu) X. C. Peng & T. C. Wen comb. nov.

Fig. 4

Cordyceps musicaudata Z. Q. Liang & A. Y. Liu. Basionym.

Diagnosis.

Parasitic on larvae of insect ( Lasiocampidae , Lepidoptera ). Stroma arising from body of the host, no sterile tip. Perithecia immersed, yellowish.

Sexual morph.

Stroma solitary, paired to multiple, simple or branched, flexuous, cylindrical with acute or round ends, 13-14 × 0.1-0.2 cm. Fertile part cylindrical, yellowish, 2-4.3 × 0.1-0.2 cm. Stipe flexuous, brown, 10-12 × 0.1 cm. Peridium 15-49 µm (x̄= 33 µm, σ = 8.41, n = 40) wide, composed of brown cells of textura angularis. Perithecia 260-492 × 144-314 μm (x̄= 378 × 221 µm, σ = 37.29 × 1.57, n = 25), immersed, flask-shaped. Asci 123-264 × 5-13 μm (x̄= 191 × 8.1 µm, σ = 58.76 × 48.94, n = 80), cylindrical, 8-spored, with inconspicuous thickened cap. Ascospores 114-298 × 1.5-4.0 µm (x̄= 198 × 2.3 µm, σ = 46.03 × 0.48, n = 45), filiform, irregular multi-septate, non-disarticulating. Asexual morph: undetermined.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies on PDA, attaining a diameter of 21-27 mm within 43 d at 25 °C, dense, velvety, off-white, wrinkled bulge, reverse brown. No sporulation observed.

Epitype designated here.

China, Guizhou Province, Suiyang County, Kuankuoshui National Nature Reserve (28°13′N, 107°09′E, alt. 1470-1507 m), on dead larva of Lepidoptera sp. buried in soil, 28 July 2022, Xing-Can Peng, SY22072880 (HKAS 131911 epitype); Ting-Chi Wen, SY22072879 (HKAS 131912, GACP SY22072879, live culture).

Notes.

Liang et al. (1996) published a new species, Cordyceps musicaudata solely based on morphological observation. The type specimen (CGAC89-62301) was found on the insect ( Lasiocampidae , Lepidoptera ) in the Kuankuoshui National Nature Reserve, Guizhou Province, China. It is regrettable that the type specimen has been destroyed, thus its DNA and morphological observations could not be obtained. Liang et al. (1996) stated that the type specimen has characteristics of paired rat-tailed stromata, white to pale brown fertile part, brown stipe, immersed perithecia, cylindrical asci with thickened apices and filiform, multi-septate ascospores. In this study, we collected two fresh specimens from the same location to the type specimen. The fresh specimen shares similar morphology with the type specimen of C. musicaudata in the lepidopteran hosts, stipitate rat-tailed stromata with yellowish fertile part, immersed perithecia and filiform, multi-septate, intact ascospores. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that C. musicaudata has close affinity with O. alboperitheciata and O. fenggangensis with adequate support (99% ML / 1 PP, Fig. 1 ). The differences between C. musicaudata and O. fenggangensis have been mentioned in the notes of O. fenggangensis . The difference between C. musicaudata and O. alboperitheciata is the size and the arrangements of the perithecia. Ophiocordyceps musicaudata has smaller and immersed perithecia, whereas O. alboperitheciata has larger and superficial perithecia. The detailed comparisons of morphologies between our specimen and related species including species without molecular data are shown in Table 2 ( Cordyceps ochraceostromata , Ophiocordyceps alboperitheciata , O. dayiensis , O. emeiensis , O. fenggangensis , O. laojunshanensis , O. larvarum , O. zhangjiajiensis and O. paludosa ). Our specimen morphologically more matches Cordyceps musicaudata rather than other Ophiocordyceps species included in the Table 2 . Therefore, we determined these specimens as Cordyceps musicaudata and move this species into the genus Ophiocordyceps , based on the phylogenetic affiliation of this new collection.

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogram generated from Maximum Likelihood analysis, based on combined LSU, ITS, SSU, tef 1 - α, rpb 1 and rpb 2 sequence data. ML bootstrap values equal to or greater than 95 % and the PP equal to or greater than 0.90 are given above each node. The newly-generated sequences are indicated in blue. Type strain, type specimens or neotype are denoted in black bold.

Figure 4. Ophiocordyceps musicaudata (HKAS 131911) a redrawn of Liang (2007) b habitat c, d stromata arising from host e fertile parts f, g reverse and front view of culture on PDA h, i perithecia j-l asci m ascus cap n-p ascospores, the arrows in the n, p indicating septate. Scale bars: 2 cm (c, d); 5 mm (e); 1 cm (f, g); 100 µm (h, i); 50 µm (j-l, n-p); 5 um (m).