Metarhizium guizhouense Q.T. Chen & H.L. Guo

Wijayawardene, Nalin N., Dissanayake, Lakmali S., Li, Qi-Rui, Dai, Dong-Qi, Xiao, Yuanpin, Wen, Ting-Chi, Karunarathna, Samantha C., Wu, Hai-Xia, Zhang, Huang, Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Kang, Ji-Chuan, Wang, Yong, Shen, Xiang- Chun, Tang, Li-Zhou, Deng, Chun-Ying, Liu, Yanxia & Kang, Yingqian, 2021, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau: a mycological hotspot, Phytotaxa 523 (1), pp. 1-31 : 14

Metarhizium guizhouense Q.T. Chen & H.L. Guo ,

Acta Mycol. Sin. 5(3): 181 (1986)

( FIGURE. 8 )

Index Fungorum Number: 130206

Specimen found on stick insects ( Phasmatodea). Host’s internodes between abdominal segments were covered with white to pale green mycelium and sporulating conidiophores. Conidiophores arising from hyphae, smooth-walled. Phialides cylindrical, solitary, smooth-walled, 8–18 × 1–1.5 μm. Conidia smooth-walled, pale green to colorless (6.5– 9.5 × 2.5–3 μm), cylindrical, slightly constricted in the middle, round at both ends or tapered at one end. Bi-celled conidium was not observed.

Culture characteristics:— Colonies on PDA were relatively slow-growing, fluffy, beginning to white, and the spores appear green, started to produce conidia after 3 days in culture at 25 °C in the laboratory, 17 mm diam. after 10 days. Mature conidia chains are often spread on the surface of the colony in small granular clumps. Hyphae hyaline, separated, branched, about 3 um wide.

Material examined:— China, Guizhou Province, Guiyang , on dead stick insects, July 2019, Q.R. L, 2019GY03 ( GMB0010 ), living cultures, GMBC0010 (new host record) .

Known hosts and distribution:— Guizhou

Known hosts:— larvae of Noctuidae sp., stick insects

GenBank Numbers:— ITS: MW881444 , LSU: MW 881450 , RPB2: MW 883344

Note:— Metarhizium guizhouense , isolated on Hepialus sp. in Guizhou China, was introduced by Guo et al. (1986). In 1991, Liang et al. reported a M. taii Z.Q. Liang & A.Y. Liu on larvae of Noctuidae sp. ( Lepidoptera ). Metacordyceps taii was recognized to be the sexual morph of M. guizhouense by Bischoff et al. (2009). Qu et al. also reported that M. taii should be treated as a synonym of M. guizhouense based on molecular data. This is the first report of M. guizhouense isolated on stick insects ( Phasmatodea).

Figures

FIGURE. Metarhizium guizhouense (GMB0010) (new host record). a, b. Fungus on stick insects (Phasmatodea) c, d. Green mycelium and sporulating conidiophores covered on the surface of inscect.e, f, g. Conidiophores h, i. Conidia on insect host. Scale bars: a, b = 5 mm, c = 2 mm, d = 500 μm, j–r = 10 μm, e–i = 5μm