Papiliomyces liangshanensis (M. Zang et al.) Luangsa-ard, Samson & Thanakitpipattana, comb. nov.
MycoBank number: MB 834903; Index Fungorum number: IF 834903; Facesoffungi number: FoF14492;
Basionym: Cordyceps liangshanensis M. Zang et al., Acta Bot. Yunn. 4: 174. 1982.
Synonym: Metacordyceps liangshanensis (M. Zang et al.) G.H. Sung et al., Stud. Mycol. 57: 35. 2007.
Description and illustration: See Zang et al. (1982).
Typus: China, Sichuan, Liangshan, on Lepidoptera larva in a bamboo forest Phyllostachydis pubescentibus var. heterocyclae, 10 Nov. 1980, Liu Dao-qing (holotype KUN 7723).
Habitat: Lepidoptera larva.
Known distribution: China.
Notes: Papiliomyces liangshanensis is one of the few species of entomopathogenic fungi with superficial perithecia and wiry stromata that have been reported with aboveground branched stromata. Ophiocordyceps petchii (Mains) G.H. Sung et al. (≡Cordyceps ramosa Petch, non-Teng 1936) on Lepidoptera larva has similar morphological features as P. liangshanensis but differs from O. petchii in the production of cylindrical partspores while the latter produces whole filiform ascospores.
The gross morphology of P. liangshanensis could easily be assigned to Ophiocordyceps in the production of dark wiry stromata and superficial perithecia like in the O. acicularis group (Luangsa-ard et al. 2018). A recollection of O. petchii in Trinidad would help elucidate if this species belongs to Ophiocordyceps or Papiliomyces. Another species producing branched stromata in the Clavicipitaceae is Sungia yongmunensis (≡ Metacordyceps yongmunensis, fig. 5B in Sung et al. 2007) on Lepidoptera pupa, but differs in the character of the stroma, which is not wiry but robust and the fertile part is not differentiated from the stroma.