Abstract
During a survey of entomopathogenic fungi in Fanjingshan Nature Reserve, Guizhou Province, China, we collected several specimens with morphological characteristics typical of Moelleriella. Based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analysis using EF-1α, RPB1, and LSU partial sequences. The results supported that it is a new species of Moelleriella and described as M. guizhouensis. The teleomorphic stromata raised to convex, white to creamy, perithecia scattered, semi-embedded. Phylogenetic analysis of a concatenated dataset reveals that M. guizhouensis forms a distinct, well-supported lineage closely related to M. flava.
References
- Berger, E.W. (1921) Natural enemies of scale insects and whiteflies in Florida. Quarterly Bulletin of the State Plant Board of Florida 5 (3): 141–154.
- Buttachon, S., May, Z.W.W., Himaman, W., Sinchayakul, P. & Kijjoa, A. (2022) Laboratory-based toxicity of scale insect pathogen Moelleriella raciborskii (Zimm.) (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) crude extracts and isolated compounds against Tetranychus truncatus Ehara (Acari: Tetranychidae). Systematic and Applied Acarology 27 (6): 1152–1165. https://doi.org/10.11158/SAA.27.6.13
- Campos-Esquivel, L., Hanson, P.E., Escuderoleyva, E. & Chaverri, P. (2022) Virulence of native isolates of entomopathogenic fungi (Hypocreales) against the “sweetpotato whitefly” Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), including the effects of temperature and fungicides. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 192: 107787. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JIP.2022.107787
- Castlebury, L.A., Rossman, A.Y., Sung, G.H., Hyten, A.S. & Spatafora, J.W. (2004) Multigene phylogeny reveals new lineage for Stachybotrys chartarum, the indoor air fungus. Mycological Research 108 (8): 864–872. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953756204000607
- Chaverri, P., Liu, M. & Hodge, K.T. (2008) A monograph of the entomopathogenic genera Hypocrella, Moelleriella, and Samuelsia gen. nov. (Ascomycota, Hypocreales, Clavicipitaceae), and their aschersonia-like anamorphs in the Neotropics. Studies in Mycology 60: 1–66. https://doi.org/10.3114/sim.2008.60.01
- Culik, M.P., Martins, D.S., Ventura, J., Peronti, A.L.B.G., Gullan, P. & Kondo, T. (2007) Coccidae, Pseudococcidae, Ortheziidae, and Monophlebidae (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Biota Neotropica 7 (3): 61–65. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-06032007000300006
- Darriba, D., Taboada, G.L., Doallo, R. & Posada, D. (2012) jModelTest 2: more models, new heuristics and parallel computing. Nature Methods 9 (8): 772. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2109
- Fu, D.L., Chen, Y.X., Guo, Q.F., Mao, L.H., Fei, J. & Qiu, J.Z. (2018) Research progress on metabolites from Aschersonia and its teleomorph (Ascomycota). Mycosystema 37 (5): 541–554. https://doi.org/10.13346/j.mycosystema.180017
- García Morales, M., Denno, B.D., Miller, D.R., Miller, G.L., Ben-Dov, Y. & Hardy, N.B. (2016) ScaleNet: a literature-based model of scale insect biology and systematics. Database 2016: bav118. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bav118
- Hopple, S.J. (1994) Phylogenetic investigations in the genus Coprinus based on morphological and molecular characters. Duke University.
- Katoh, K. & Standley, D.M. (2013) MAFFT multiple sequence alignment software version 7: improvements in performance and usability. Molecular Biology and Evolution 30 (4): 772–780. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst010
- Khonsanit, A., Noisripoom, W., Mongkolsamrit, S., Phosrithong, N. & Luangsa-ard, J.J. (2021) Five new species of Moelleriella infecting scale insects (Coccidae) in Thailand. Mycological Progress 20 (7): 847–867. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-021-01709-5
- Letunic, I. & Bork, P. (2024) Interactive Tree of Life (iTOL) v6: recent updates to the phylogenetic tree display and annotation tool. Nucleic Acids Research 52 (W1): W78–W82. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae268
- Liu, Z.Y., Liang, Z.Q., Whalley, A.J.S., Yao, Y.J. & Liu, A.Y. (2001) Cordyceps brittlebankisoides, a new pathogen of grubs and its anamorph, Metarhizium anisopliae var. majus. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 78 (3): 178–182. https://doi.org/10.1006/jipa.2001.5039
- Minh, B.Q., Schmidt, H.A., Chernomor, O., Schrempf, D., Woodhams, M.D., von Haeseler, A. & Lanfear, R. (2020) IQ-TREE 2: New Models and Efficient Methods for Phylogenetic Inference in the Genomic Era. Molecular Biology and Evolution 37 (5): 1530–1534. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa015
