Ophiocordyceps liangii 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 liangii X. C. Peng & T. C. Wen sp. nov.

Fig. 3

Etymology.

Named in honour of Prof. Zong-Qi Liang, who has made a significant contribution to the studies of Cordyceps sensu lato.

Diagnosis.

Parasitic on lepidoptaran larva. Stroma arising from the back and tail of host, no sterile tip. Perithecia superficial, dark brown.

Sexual morph.

Stroma paired, flexuous, fibrous, filiform, tapering gradually towards the apex, unbranched, brown to dark brown, 11.3-18.8 × 0.2 cm. Fertile part cylindrical, dark brown, 5.4-6.1 × 0.2 cm. Stipe flexuous, brown, 5.1-13.5 × 0.1-0.2 cm. Perithecia 350-548 × 203.5-446 μm (x̄= 430.5 × 296 µm, σ = 56.45 × 60.83, n = 25), superficial, brown, obovoid. Asci 122-271.5 × 3.5-13.5 μm (x̄= 204.8 × 8.0 µm, σ = 38.22 × 2.63, n = 40), filiform, 8-spored, cylindrical, with thickened apices. Apical cap 1.7-4.5 × 4.0-6.6 μm (x̄= 3.2 × 5.4 µm, σ = 0.56 × 0.59, n = 40), hyaline, conspicuous. Ascospores 67.5-270.5 × 1.5-4.0 µm (x̄= 151.3 × 2.6 µm, σ = 36.31 × 0.61, n = 55), fusiform to filiform, aseptate, guttulate, non-disarticulating. Asexual morph: undetermined.

Culture characters.

Colonies on PDA, attaining a diameter of 21-27 mm within 25 d at 25 °C, dense, leathery, pale yellow at centre, white at periphery, radially striate, with brown or translucent droplets, reverse black brown, producing brown pigment. Sporulation not observed.

Material examined.

China, Guizhou Province, Libo County, Xiaoqikong Scenic Area (25°15′15.68″N, 107°43′43.98″E, alt. 458 m), on dead larva of Lepidoptara, on leaf litter, 12 July 2022, Xing-Can Peng, LB 22071253 (HKAS 125845 holotype, GACP LB22071253 ex-type culture) .

Notes.

Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Ophiocordyceps liangii is closely related to O. agriotidis and O. brunneiperitheciata with high support (100% ML/1.00 PP, Fig. 1 ). Ophiocordyceps liangii differs from O. brunneiperitheciata and O. agriotidis in having longer stroma, larger perithecia and asci (see Table 2 ). The comparison of the nucleotide sequences between O. liangii (GACP LB22071253) and O. brunneiperitheciata (TBRC 8100) showed 23 bp (including 3 gaps) differences in LSU, 102 bp in tef1-α and 88 bp in rpb2 sequences. Ophiocordyceps liangii differs from O. agriotidis ARSEF 5692 by 3 bp in SSU, 70 bp (including 20 gaps) in ITS, 20 bp (including 1 gap) in LSU, 106 bp in tef1-α and 79 bp in rpb2. Henceforth, we describe this taxon as a new species in Ophiocordyceps .

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 3. Ophiocordyceps liangii (holotype HKAS 125845) a habitat b, c stromata arising from host d superficial perithecia e host f, g section of perithecia h-k asci h-i immature j, k mature l, m ascus cap n-p ascospores q-s reverse and front view of culture on PDA. Scale bars: 4 cm (b, c), 1 mm (d), 5 mm (e), 100 µm (f, g), 50 µm (h-k), 20 µm (l, m), 30 µm (n-p), 2 cm (q-s).