Ophiocordyceps albastroma Hong Yu bis, Y. D. Dai, T. Sun and Y. Chen, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Sun, Tao
name: Chen, Yue
name: Wang, Dong
name: Dai, Yongdong
name: Zou, Weiqiu
name: Luo, Run
name: Dong, Quanying
name: Yu, Hong
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Ascomycota
Sordariomycetes
Hypocreales
Ophiocordycipitaceae
Ophiocordyceps
Ophiocordyceps albastroma

description: Ophiocordyceps albastroma Hong Yu bis, Y. D. Dai, T. Sun and Y. Chen sp. nov.
Fig. 2
Etymology.
The epithet ‘ albastroma ’ refers to white stromata this species.
Holotype.
China, Yunnan Province, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Lanping County, the Bailongtan Mountains (26 ° 37 ' N, 99 ° 37 ' E, alt. 3200 m), isolated from the Hepialidae, 26 July 2016, Hong Yu, (holotype: YHH 1507001; ex - type living culture: YFCC 15079242).
Description.
Teleomorph: Stromata arising from Hepialidae larva buried in soil, slender, solitary or gregarious, unbranched, 5.1–11.8 cm long, 0.08–0.1 cm wide at the base and 0.02–0.03 cm wide at the top. The morphology of perithecia and asci was not observed, as the collections did not include any specimens that had reached sexual maturity.
Anamorph: Hirsutella - type anamorph. Colonies on PDA slow-growing, attaining a diameter of 13–15 mm after 30 days at 20 ° C. Colonies pale yellow, high mycelial density, felty, texture hard, microtomentum, white margin, with star ray folds; reverse pale brown. Hyphae hyaline, branched, smooth-walled, 1.4–2.3 μm wide. Phialides from aerial mycelium straight to slightly ﬂexuose, solitary, cylindrical, usually with a slightly swollen basal part, tapering into the apex form a long neck, 6.5–21.3 × 0.4–1.3 μm, 0.6–1.6 µm wide at the base and 0.2–0.7 µm wide at the apex. Conidia usually one-celled, occasionally two-celled, hyaline, smooth, ovoid to ellipsoidal, 2.2–3.6 × 1.1–1.9 µm, conidia secrete mucus.
Host: Larvae of Hepialidae.
Habitat.
Parasitic on Hepialidae larvae in the alpine soil amongst the Iris spp.
Distribution.
The Bailongtan Mountains, Lanping County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.
Additional specimens examined.
China, Yunnan Province, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Lanping County, The Bailongtan Mountains (26 ° 37 ' N, 99 ° 37 ' E, alt. 3200 m), isolated from the Hepialidae, 26 July 2016, Hong Yu, dried culture on PDA (paratype YHH 1507002, ex-paratype living culture YFCC 15079243).
Notes.
Ophiocordyceps albastroma was closely phylogenetically related to H. illustris, O. macroacicularis and O. xuefengensis. The morphological characteristic common to all four species was the formation of stromata on the head of the host. However, the length of the stromata varies, O. albastroma had a stromata length longer than O. macroacicularis, but shorter than O. xuefengensis (Table 1). The phialides of O. albastroma was smaller than that of H. illustris and O. albastroma had a conidia length much shorter than H. illustris. Moreover, the greatest peculiarity of O. albastroma was the white stromata. Thus, the morphological features and molecular phylogenetic results supported that O. albastroma was a new species in the genus Ophiocordyceps.
description: Published as part of Sun, Tao, Chen, Yue, Wang, Dong, Dai, Yongdong, Zou, Weiqiu, Luo, Run, Dong, Quanying & Yu, Hong, 2024, Mitogenomics, phylogeny and morphology reveal two new entomopathogenic species of Ophiocordyceps (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) from south-western China, pp. 49-72 in MycoKeys 109 on pages 49-72, DOI: 10.3897/mycokeys.109.124975