Ophiocordyceps asiana Mongkols., Khao-ngam, Himaman, Rungjind. & Luangsa-ard, in Khao-ngam, Mongkolsamrit, Rungjindamai, Noisripoom, Pooissarakul, Duangthisan, Himaman & Luangsa-ard, Mycol. Progr. 20(3): 347 (2021)

Index Fungorum number: IF 838742; MycoBank number: MB 838742; Facesoffungi number: FoF 15773; Figs. 1, 2

Sexual morph: Host 20.9 × 12.7 mm, adult of Tessaratoma sp., peltate, dark brown. Stromata arising from the thorax of the host, paired, unbranched, cylindrical, black to red–orange, 93.36–112.8 × 0.97–3.12 mm, without sterile apical. Stipes 73.7–85.2 × 0.97–1.52 mm, cylindrical, smooth, black to light orange, with a fertile part. Fertile parts 11–23.6 × 2.64–3.12 mm, cylindrical, yellow to orange. Perithecia (702–)712–869–979(–994) × (144–)196–224–263(–266) µm, elongated ovoid, completely immersed, inclined close arrangement. Asci (235–)256 367–501(–515) × (4.3–) 4.7–6.0–7.8(–12.8) µm, hyaline, filiform, with a hemispheric apical cap of (4.0–)5.8–7.6–9.6(–10.0) × (4.2–)4.3–6.6–7.9(–8.8) µm. Ascospores easily breaking into part-spores. Secondary ascospores (9.25–)10.1–11.5–13.1(–14.1) × (1.0–)1.1–1.9–2.4(–2.8) µm, cylindrical, smooth.

Material examined – CHINA, Guizhou Province, Libo County, 25°15’N 100°97’E, 12 Jul 2022, Xian Zhang, Xing-Can Peng, LB22071254 (HKAS 125846).

GenBank – HKAS 125846: PP627513 (ITS), PP616710 (LSU), PP707760 (SSU), PP654215 (tef1), PP654217 (rpb1).

Notes – Among samples of Ophiocordyceps nutans complex, Khao-ngam et al. (2021) confirmed that Thai materials formed two independent branches through the multi-loci phylogeny analysis, which were obviously separated from O. nutans, including a new Ophiocordyceps asiana (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales). And the O. asiana from China, Japan and Thailand was summarized and recorded. The host of O. asiana from Thailand are proposed as Pentatomidae and Coreidae. The host of O. asiana from Japan are Coreidae, Pentatomidae and Acanthosomatidae. In this study, O. asiana parasitic on Tessaratoma sp. is a new host.

Figure 1 – Ophiocordyceps asiana (HKAS 125846). a Stroma arising from host. b Fertile part. c Cross-section through part of stroma with perithecia. d Host. e Perithecia. f–h Ascospores. i Apical cap of asci. j–k Secondary ascospores. Scale bars: a = 10 mm, b–c = 5 mm, d = 2 mm, e = 200 µm, f = 50 µm, g = 100 µm, h = 50 µm, i = 20 µm, j = 10 µm, k = 20 µm.

Figure 2 – Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree based on concatenation of ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1 and rpb1 sequence data. The phylogeny was inferred using IQ-tree. The number of SH-aLRT > 75% / UFB > 85% / PP > 0.90 are indicated above the nodes. My data are indicated in red bold font.