Ophiocordyceps campes Tasan., Thanakitp. & Luangsa-ard, in Tasanathai, Thanakitpipattana, Himaman, Phommavong, Dengkhhamounh & Luangsa-ard, Mycol. Progr. 19(10): 1045 (2020)

Index Fungorum number: IF 835588; MycoBank number: MB 835588; Facesoffungi number: FoF 16987; Figs. 1, 2

Parasitic on larvae of Lepidoptera, collected in leaf litter in forests, without mycelium cover on host. Sexual morph: not observed. Asexual morph: Hirsutella-like. Synnemata 3–5.5 cm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide, cylindrical with tapering tip, stipitate, gradually become white or grayish white to the upper portion, scattered on the insect body, without fertile head. Phialides hyaline, smooth, with an inflated base, 9.7–13.5 × 2.5–4.2 µm (x̄ = 11.6 × 3.4 µm, n = 40), tapering to a thin neck, 4.2–7.4 um long, l.3 µm wide. Conidia hyaline, smooth, ellipsoid or fusiform, 4.8–6.7 × 1.2–2.3 µm (x̄ = 5.7 × 1.8 µm, n = 40).

Material examined – CHINA, Guizhou Province, Qian dongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Zhenyuan County, 27°6’N 108°24’E, 583 m asl, 26 Jun 2023, Yuan-Pin Xiao, Yu Yang, TX23100 (HKAS 132243).

GenBank numbers – HKAS 132243: PQ528947 (ITS), PQ528945 (LSU), PQ528942 (SSU), PQ522477 (rpb1), PQ569913 (rpb2), PQ522480 (tef1).

Notes – Ophiocordyceps campes was introduced by Tasanathai et al. (2020), which was found on the larva of Lepidoptera in Thailand. Phylogenetic analysis showed that our new isolation TX23100 is a sister taxon to O. campes (BCC36938) (Fig. 2). Morphologically, our new isolate is almost identical to O. campes except for the conidia (Tasanathai et al. 2020). Our new isolate has smaller conidia than the holotype of O. campes (Tasanathai et al. 2020). Molecularly, our new isolate (HKAS 132168) is not significantly different from O. campes (BCC36938). Thus, we identified our new isolate as O. campes, marking the first report of this species collected from China.

Figure 1 – Ophiocordyceps campes (HKAS 132243). a Habitat. b Synnemata on host. c Host. d Synnemata. e–g Phialides. h–j Conidia. Scale bars: e = 30 µm, f–g = 10 µm, h–j = 5 µm.

Figure 2 – A phylogram was constructed using Maximum Likelihood analysis with RAxML based on sequence data from six gene regions: LSU, ITS, SSU, tef1, rpb1 and rpb2 sequence data. Tolypocladium inflatum and T. ophioglossoides were employed as outgroup taxa. Nodes with Maximum Likelihood bootstrap values exceeding 75% and Bayesian posterior probabilities higher than 0.90 are indicated on the phylogram. Newly generated sequences are highlighted in bold red. “T” refers to a type specimen.