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Type: Article
Published: 2015-04-08
Page range: 287–295
Abstract views: 24
PDF downloaded: 1

Ophiocordyceps highlandensis, a new entomopathogenic fungus from Yunnan, China

Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China
Yunnan Haoruo Institute of Biotechnology, Kunming 650201, China
Yunnan Haoruo Institute of Biotechnology, Kunming 650201, China
Ascomycetes·new taxon·taxonomy

Abstract

A new species of Ophiocordycipitaceae, Ophiocordyceps highlandensis, from southwestern China is described using morphological and molecular evidence. It is morphologically characterized by the combination of the following characters: dark-brown to blackish stromata on larvae of Scarabaeidae, fully immersed perithecia with non-protruding ostioles, 3-septate filiform ascospores breaking easily into four part-spores (20) 33–55 × 1.5–2 μm and a hymeniform cortex layer of stipe. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using DNA nucleotide sequences of the nuclear ribosomal small subunit, and the genes encoding the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II and the second-largest subunit of RNA polymerase II indicated that O. highlandensis was related to O. konnoana, O. barnesii, O. nigrella, O. ravenelii and O. superficialis. Ophiocordyceps highlandensis and its related species were all characterized by dark-brown stromata and an affinity for melolonthid larval hosts. A description, line drawings, phylogenetic placement and comparison with allied taxa are presented.