Pleurocordyceps litangensis 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

Pleurocordyceps litangensis Hong Yu bis, Z. H. Liu & D. X. Tang sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Etymology.

litangensis = Litang County, the epithet referred to the nature study trail in Litang County, the locality where the type specimen was collected.

Diagnosis.

Pleurocordyceps litangensis and Pl. sinensis have the same host ( O. sinensis ) and β-Conidia, but the phialides (lanceolate or narrowly lageniform vs. spear point or subulate), α-conidia (Ovoid vs. Ovoid or ellipticare) are different.

Holotype.

China, Sichuan Province, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Litang County, parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sinensis ( Ophiocordycipitaceae ), on insects buried in soil, with erect stromata, 30 ° 43 ′ 00 ″ N, 100 ° 52 ′ 00 ″ E, alt. 4750 m, 10 June 2023, Hong Yu bis ( YHH 2306055 ) .

Sexual morph.

Undetermined.

Asexual morph.

Synnemata arising from the stromata of O. sinensis , solitary or alternating; clavate or spatulate, branched and unbranched, straight or sinuous. Terminal portion of a synnemata covered by a viscous mass, khaki. Colonies on PDA growing slowly, attaining a diameter of 1.4–1.6 cm in 3 weeks at 25 ° C, filiform, dark yellow and reverse dry yellow. Phialides existing in two types: α- and β-phialides. Both types of phialides often reproduce new phialides at their own apices and yield catenulate β-conidia, collarettes not flared, periclinal thickening not visible. α-phialides acropleurogenous solitary on hyphae; spear point, tapering gradually from the base to the apex, 11.2–12.8 μm long, 1.9–2.6 μm wide at the base and 0.7–0.9 μm wide at the apex. β-phialides terminal on solitary on hyphae; subulate, tapering abruptly from the base to the apex, 9.9–27.8 μm long, 1.6–2.5 μm wide at the base and 0.6–1.4 μm wide at the apex. α-conidia ovoid or elliptic and occurring on the final portion of synnemata, 3.2–6.1 × 1.8–3.9 μm; β-conidia fusiform, and produce on the surface mycelium of colony, multiple, usually in chains on a phialide, 3.5–6.1 × 1.4–2.5 μm.

Host.

Parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sinensis ( Ophiocordycipitaceae ).

Distribution.

China, Sichuan Province.

Material examined.

China, Sichuan Province, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Litang County, parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sinensis ( Ophiocordycipitaceae ), on insects buried in soil, with erect stromata, 30 ° 43 ′ 00 ″ N, 100 ° 52 ′ 00 ″ E, alt. 4750 m, 10 June 2023, Tao Sun . Paratypes: YHH 2306058 ; other collections: YHH 2306059 ; Culture ex-type: YFCC 06109293 ; Other living cultures: YFCC 06109294 , YFCC 06109295 , YFCC 06109296 .

Notes.

Four strains, Pleurocordyceps sp. NBRC 109990, Pl. sp. NBRC 109987, Pl. sp. NBRC 110224, Pl. sp. NBRC 109988, were aggregated Pl. litangensis into one branch (Fig. 1 BS = 100 %, BPP = 1.00). Pl. litangensis was distinct from other species of Pleurocordyceps by α-phialides spear point, β-phialides subulate, α-conidia ovoid or elliptic (Table 2 ). Thus, Pl. litangensis was introduced as a new species under the genus Pleurocordyceps .

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 2. Morphological features of Pleurocordyceps litangensis (Holotype: YHH 2306055) a overview of Pleurocordyceps litangensis and its host b synnemata on the insects c, d colony obverse and reverse e – h, k α-phialides i α-conidia j β-conidia and β-phialides. Scale Bars: 2 cm (a – d); 20 μm (e – j); 10 μm (k); 5 μm (g – i).