Paraisaria tettigoniae (T. C. Wen, Y. P. Xiao & K. D. Hyde) Luangsa-ard , Mongkols. & Samson

Yang, Yu, Hyde, Kevin D., Mapook, Ausana, Lu, Yong-Zhong, Nilthong, Somrudee, Xie, Shu-Qiong, Li, Xiang-Dong, Jayawardena, Ruvishika S. & Xiao, Yuan-Pin, 2025, Two new species and one asexual morph record of Paraisaria (Ophiocordycipitaceae, Hypocreales) from China, MycoKeys 121, pp. 253-270 : 253-270

Paraisaria tettigoniae (T. C. Wen, Y. P. Xiao & K. D. Hyde) Luangsa-ard, Mongkols. & Samson [as ‘ tettigonia’], Mycol. Progr. 18 (9): 1225 (2019)

Fig. 4

Description.

Parasitic on adults of Orthoptera, found on the leaf litter. Host measuring 1.5–2.8 cm long, 5–8 mm wide, with hyphae present on the surface. Sexual morph Stromata 1.2–2.5 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, arising singly or in groups from the host prothorax stipitate, capitate, unbranched, yellowish-white to pale yellow when fresh, turning yellowish-brown when dry. Stipe 1–3.5 cm long, 1.2–1.8 mm diameter, yellowish white to pale yellow, cylindrical in shape, terminating in a fertile apex. Fertile head globoid, 1.5–4 mm, pale yellow and solitary. Perithecia 500–630 × 180–220 μm ( x ̄ = 565 × 200 µm, n = 30), immersed, ovoid to flask-shaped, thick-walled. Asci 243–310 × 4.3–6.5 μm ( x ̄ = 276 × 5.4 µm, n = 50), hyaline, cylindrical, with a thickened apex. Apical cap 4.9–6.7 × 3.4–4.4 μm ( x ̄ = 5.8 × 3.9 µm, n = 50), thick, hyaline. Ascospores cylindrical, hyaline, as long as the asci, fragmenting into part-spores. Secondary ascospores 6.1–8.5 × 1.8–2.5 μm ( x ̄ = 7.4 × 1.8 µm, n = 50) cylindrical, one-celled, straight, hyaline, smooth-walled. Asexual morph Hyphomycetous. Synnemata emerge from the insect body, white, 2–4 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm wide. Conidiophores 21–43 μm long ( x ̄ = 32 μm, n = 30), irregularly differentiated from the synnemata, sparse, gregarious and branched. Phialides 12–17 × 2.3–4.8 μm ( x ̄ = 14.5 × 3.5 μm, n = 25), cylindrical with 1–3 necks, hyaline, aseptate, phialidic. Conidia 4.2–5.8 × 1.2–1.8 μm ( x ̄ = 5 × 1.5 μm, n = 30), solitary, hyaline, aseptate, cylindrical with rounded tips, smooth-walled.

Culture characteristics.

Colonies on PDA medium grow slowly, isolated from tissue taken inside the host body and are circular, reaching 2 cm in diameter after 35 days at 25 ° C, with a white appearance. Conidiophore 50–90 μm ( x ̄ = 70 µm, n = 40), bearing 2-4 phialides in one. Phialides 20–50 × 2.1–5.2 μm ( x ̄ = 35 × 3.6 µm, n = 40) solitary, arising laterally from hyphae, hyaline, smooth. Conidia 7.8–14.5 × 2.1–3.2 μm ( x ̄ = 11.1 × 2.6 µm, n = 40) hyaline, unicellular, ellipsoid, some slightly curved, smooth-walled.

Material examined.

China • Guizhou Province, Guiyang City , Xiuwen County, at 709 m elev., 27.256N, 106.674E, parasitic on adult of Orthoptera, collected on the leaf litter, 30 May 2024, Yu Yang XW 2416 ( HKAS 144580 ). XW 2416 J ( GZCC 24-0222 , living culture) ; China • Guizhou Province, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Zhen Yuan County , at 555 m elev., 27.111N, 108.401E, parasitic on an adult of Orthoptera, 26 June 2023, Yu Yang, TX 23108 ( HKAS 132245 ) .

Notes.

Our new collection is phylogenetically closely related to Paraisaria tettigoniae , with 95 % MLBP and 0.98 PP support (Fig. 1 ). It shares highly similar sequences with P. tettigoniae across multiple loci ( SSU, tef - 1 α and rpb 1), whereas P. tettigoniae shows anomalous divergence. Further inspection indicates that the ITS sequence of P. tettigoniae (GenBank accession: KT 345954 ) may be problematic, possibly due to sequencing errors or intragenomic variation. Therefore, this ITS sequence (strain GZUH CS 14062709) was excluded from our analysis. Paraisaria tettigoniae was originally described from Guizhou, China, based on its sexual morph parasitising adult Orthoptera ( Wen et al. 2016). Our collection, also from Guizhou, represents the asexual morph of the same species. Although minor morphological differences were observed — such as smaller perithecia (500–630 × 180–220 μm vs. 520–680 × 205–275 μm) and shorter asci (243–310 × 4.3–6.5 μm vs. 530–615 × 6.5–9.3 μm) — the multi-locus phylogenetic analysis (excluding the problematic ITS sequence) shows that our collection clusters with P. tettigoniae (Fig. 1 ). Therefore, based on both morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic evidence, our collection is identified as Paraisaria tettigoniae , representing the first report of its asexual morph.

Figures

Figure 1. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using Maximum Likelihood (ML) analysis in RAxML, incorporating sequence data from multi-nuclear loci regions: LSU, ITS, SSU, tef - 1 α, rpb 1 and rpb 2. The analysis included Tolypocladium inflatum and T. ophioglossoides as outgroup taxa. Significant nodes, with ML bootstrap values equal to or greater than 75 % and Bayesian posterior probabilities equal to or greater than 0.90, are indicated on the phylogram. Newly-generated sequences are emphasised in bold red for clarity.

Figure 4. Paraisaria tettigoniae (HKAS 144580 and HKAS 132245). a. Habitat; b. Overview of the host and stromata; c. Stromata; d. Perithecia; e – g. Asci; h. Apical cap; i, j. Secondary ascospores; k. Synnemata on host; l. Synnemata; m, n. Phialides; p. Conidia; q. Culture; r, s. Conidiophores; t. Conidia on the phialides; u. Conidia. Scale bars: 500 μm (d); 100 μm (e – g); 50 μm (l, r – s); 10 μm (h – j, m – o, t – u); 5 μm (p).