Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata Y.B. Wang, T. Yang, Q. Fan & Zhu L. Yang, 2024

Fan, Qi, Yang, Tao, Li, Hui, Wang, Xue-Mei, Liao, He-Fa, Shen, Pei-Hong, Yang, Zhu-Liang, Zeng, Wen-Bo & Wang, Yuan-Bing, 2024, Molecular phylogeny and morphology reveal two new entomopathogenic species of Ophiocordyceps (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) parasitic on termites from China, MycoKeys 103, pp. 1-24 : 1

Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata Y.B. Wang, T. Yang, Q. Fan & Zhu L. Yang sp. nov.

Fig. 3

Etymology.

Referring to the shape of perithecia, with " globi " meaning globose.

Type.

Holotype: China, Yunnan Province, Jinghong City, Puwen Town , 22°26.35'N, 101°1.32'E, alt. 970 m, on a termite buried in soil, 28 Sep. 2022, Tao Yang (HKAS 126130). Holotype sequences (ITS: OR015963, nrLSU: OR015968, nrSSU: OR082950, tef-1α: OR030532, rpb1: OR119834) .

Description.

Stromata arising from the termite buried in soil, multiple (2-5), clavate, unbranched, flexible, leathery, 8-15 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, tapering from base to tip, base brown, tip gray. Fertile parts cylindrical, pale brown, generating toward the upper part of stromata, covered by a spinous surface, with a sterile tip. Perithecia superficial, pale brown to brown, subglobose, aggregating loosely at the upper of stromata, arranged in a disordered manner, 240-295 × 215-280 µm. Asci 8-spored, filiform, hyaline, 135-170 × 8.5-13.5 µm, with a hemispheric apical cap. Ascospores whole, hyaline, tapering at both ends, filiform, 85-110 × 3.5-4.5 µm, multiseptate, septa 11-14.5 μm long. Anamorph not detected.

Additional specimens examined.

China, Yunnan Province, Jinghong City, Puwen Town , 22°26.35'N, 101°1.32'E, alt. 970 m, on a termite buried in soil, 28 Sep. 2022, Tao Yang (HKAS 126131). Sequences (ITS: OR015964, nrLSU: OR015969, nrSSU: OR082951, tef-1α: OR030533, rpb1: OR119835) .

Habitat and ecology.

Parasitic on termites buried in soil of tropical evergreen broad-leaved forests, emerging from fallen leaves on the forest floor.

Known distribution.

Puwen Town, Jinghong City, Yunnan Province, China.

Notes.

Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata is characterized by multiple and unbranched stromata, superficial and subglobose perithecia, and filiform asci and ascospores. Phylogenetically, O. globiperitheciata forms a separate clade from other Ophiocordyceps species in the H. thompsonii subclade with moderate bootstrap support (Fig. 1 ). It is closed to H. cryptosclerotium Fern. et al. and O. communis Hywel-Jones & Samson. However, it differs from H. cryptosclerotium in parasitizing Blattodea ( H. cryptosclerotium parasitic on Hemiptera ), producing multiple clavate stromata ( H. cryptosclerotium stroma absence). Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata is distinguished from O. communis by multiple and thicker stromata, shorter asci of 135-170 µm (215-250 µm for O. communis ) and ascospores of 85-110 µm (100-180 µm for O. communis ) (Table 3 ).

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree based on the combined dataset of nrSSU, nrLSU, tef- 1 α, rpb 1, rpb 2, and ITS showing the relationship of two new species on termites from China with other Ophiocordyceps species. Values at the nodes before and after the backslash are BI posterior probabilities (BI-PP greater than 0.60) and ML bootstrap proportions (ML-BP greater than 70 %), respectively. New species described in this paper are shown in bold red.

Figure 3. Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata A stromata of fungus arising from termites B sterile tip and fertile part C fertile part D perithecia E-G asci H-J ascospores. Scale bars: 1 cm (A); 2 mm (B); 500 µm (C); 50 µm (D); 20 µm (E-J).