Abstract
The genus Cordyceps comprises a diverse group of entomopathogenic fungi with significant ecological and biotechnological importance. However, there are several taxa which have been poorly documented across a large area of the Indian subcontinent. In the present study, we provide an integrative taxonomic account of a Cordyceps sp. from central India, by combining the macromorphology, micromorphology, culture characteristics, and multi-locus phylogenetic analysis. Fresh specimens were characterized by erect, slender, orange to scarlet-red stromata that were emerging from a buried insect host, and had immersed to semi-immersed perithecia. Micromorphological observations revealed that it has an ovoid to ellipsoid perithecia, elongated asci containing filiform, multiseptate ascospores that disarticulate into part-spores. An isaria-like asexual morph was observed in culture with phialidic conidiogenesis. Phylogenetic analyses based on combined ITS, LSU, TEF1-α, and RPB1 sequence data placed this Indian material within the Cordyceps pruinosa species complex, showing closest affinity to C. neopruinosa. The absence of stable diagnostic morphological differences separating it from closely related taxa and its phylogenetic placement support the treatment of the Indian material as Cordyceps cf. neopruinosa. This study represents the first comprehensive integrative documentation of a member of the C. pruinosa species complex from central India and provides a valuable reference for future taxonomic, ecological, and applied studies on cordycipitaceous fungi in the region.
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