Taxonomy and biology of Cordyceps qingchengensis sp. nov. and its allies
Author
Zha, Ling-Sheng
School of Life Sciences, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei 235000, China & Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
Author
Wen, Ting-Chi
Engineering Research Center of Southwest Bio-Pharmaceutical Resources, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Author
Huang, Shi-Ke
Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
Author
Boonmee, Saranyaphat
Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
Author
Eungwanichayapant, Prapassorn D.
Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
text
Phytotaxa
2019
2019-09-09
416
1
14
24
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.416.1.2
journal article
10.11646/phytotaxa.416.1.2
1179-3163
4784502
Cordyceps ningxiaensis
Tolgor Bau & J.Q. Yan
(
Fig. 7a, b
)
Notes:—
Cordyceps ningxiaensis
was introduced by Yan & Bau (2015) with the
type
from Liupanshan Mountain, Longde County,
Ningxia Hui
Autonomous Region,
China
. The species is morphologically similar and phylogenetically related to
C. militaris
(L.) Link and its allies (
Figs 1
,
5
). Hosts of
C. ningxiaensis
, which had originally been identified as fly pupae (Diptera), are actually
Scoliidae
pupae (
Hymenoptera
,) that parasitize the bodies of
Scarabaeidae
larvae (
Coleoptera
).
In nature, scoliid wasps (
Scoliidae
) are the natural enemy of
Scarabaeidae
larvae. The female scoliid wasps can bury themselves into soil freely to look for
Scarabaeidae
larvae. They sting and anaesthetize the larvae, then lay eggs into their bodies which later hatch and become larvae. Using tissues of the
Scarabaeidae
larvae as nutrition, the wasp larvae will grow and the
Scarabaeidae
larvae will be consumed, until all tissues have been eaten and only exocuticle left, the wasp larvae will become pupae and finally adults (
Fabre 1886
).
During the process of pupation, once the soil layer cover is shallow and sufficiently humid, the old larvae of scoliid wasps may easily be infected by the ascospores or conidia of
C. ningxiaensis
that attach to their body surface. After being successfully infected, the insects will be killed in their pupal stage. When environmental conditions are suitable for the fungus, its fruiting bodies will break through the pupae, and a piece of ragged exocuticle of a
Scarabaeidae
larva is left beside the host.
Recently, a similar hyperparasite was discovered in a specimen of
C.
cf.
militaris
(
Fig. 7c, d
) collected in Changbai Mountain,
Jilin
,
China
. The host, which seems to be a
Lepidoptera
cocooned pupa, is in fact
Braconidae
naked pupae (
Hymenoptera
) that parasitized the cocoon. Apart from the different host species, its biology is similar to that of
C. ningxiaensis
.