Ophiocordyceps liaoningensis Y. P. Xiao, K. D. Hyde & Y. Yang, 2025

Yang, Yu, Xiao, Yuan-Pin, S. Jayawardena, Ruvishika, Hyde, Kevin D., Nilthong, Somrudee, Mapook, Ausana, Lu, Yong-Zhong, Xie, Shu-Qiong, Al-Otibi, Fatimah, Wang, Xiao, Luo, Kang & Luo, Li-Ping, 2025, Three new species of Ophiocordyceps (Hypocreales, Ophiocordycipitaceae) and a new host record for Hirsutella vermicola from China, MycoKeys 117, pp. 289-313 : 289-313

Ophiocordyceps liaoningensis Y. P. Xiao, K. D. Hyde & Y. Yang sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Etymology.

The epithet “ liaoningensis ” refers to the type location “ Liaoning Province, China ”.

Holotype.

China • Liaoning Province, Tieling City, Xifeng County, at 377 masl, 42.653°N, 124.452°E, parasitic on the larva of Coleoptera , buried in soil, 20 July 2023, Yuanpin Xiao ( HKAS 132276 ).

Description

( HKAS 132276 ). Parasitic on the larva of Coleoptera ( Elateridae ), buried in the soil. Sexual morph: Host 2.0 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, without hyphae on the surface. Stromata 5–6 cm long, 1–3 mm wide, single, stipitate, cylindrical, pale brown, arising from the host head. Fertile head 1–2 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, with superficial perithecia along the surface of the stipe, cylindrical, dark brown, with asexual morph at the apex. Perithecia 310–415 × 170–290 μm (x – = 362.5 × 230 µm, n = 20), superficial, dark brown, ovoid to flask-shaped, thick-walled. Peridium 30–50 µm (x – = 40 µm, n = 30) wide, two layers, textura angularis outer layer to textura porrecta inner layer, outer layer brownish, inner layer hyaline. Asci 205–255 × 7–11 μm (x – = 230 × 9 µm, n = 30), 8 - spored, cylindrical, hyaline, with a thin apex. Apical cap 5.5–6.5 × 3.5–4.7 μm (x – = 6 × 4.1 µm, n = 40), hyaline. Ascospores 150–200 × 2–4 μm (x – = 175 × 3 µm, n = 60), multiseptate, slender filiform, not breaking into secondary ascospores. Asexual morph: Hymenostilbe - like. Synnemata 0.5 cm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, single, cylindrical, light brown, tapering upwards. Conidiophores 10–28 µm wide (x – = 19 µm, n = 40), usually simple, branched or unbranched, septate, hyaline, bearing conidia. Phialide 15–33 × 3.5–6.5 µm (x – = 24 × 5 µm, n = 40), polyblastic, hyaline, clavate or bottle-shaped, forming a dense palisade layer covering the synnemata. Conidia 5–9 × 4.2–6.4 µm (x – = 7 × 5.3 µm, n = 60), 1 - celled, hyaline, ovoid or subglobose, developing along the tip of the phialide.

Additional material.

China • Liaoning Province, Tieling City, Xifeng County, at 394 masl, 42.656°N, 124.449°E, 20 July 2023, Yuanpin Xiao, TL 2356 ( HKAS 132189 , paratype) ; China • Liaoning Province, Tieling City, Xifeng County, at 368 masl, 42.654°N, 124.454°E, 20 July 2023, Yuanpin Xiao, TL 01 ( HKAS 132185 ) .

Notes.

Ophiocordyceps liaoningensis clustered with O. acicularis in the phylogenetic tree with support (100 % MLBP, 1.00 PP) (Fig. 1 ). Nucleotide differences of LSU, ITS, tef- 1 α, rpb 1, and rpb 2 sequences of O. acicularis are 2.09 % (17 / 810), 6.74 % (34 / 504), 6.77 % (63 / 931), 5.61 % (39 / 695), and 9.44 % (105 / 1112), respectively. Morphologically, Ophiocordyceps acicularis produces shorter perithecia (280 × 250 μm vs. 310–415 μm), longer asci (260–290 × 7–10 μm vs. 205–255 × 7–11 μm), and longer ascospores (150–240 × 3–4 μm vs. 150–200 × 2–4 μm), compared to O. liaoningensis ( Petch 1933). Ophiocordyceps agriotidis is similar to O. liaoningensis in having superficial perithecia and multiseptate ascospores. However, O. agriotidis differs by producing larger perithecia (380–550 × 280–350 μm vs. 310–415 × 170–290 μm) and longer asci (260–280 × 8.5–9.0 μm vs. 205–255 × 7–11 μm) ( Kobayasi and Shimizu 1980). Furthermore, the phylogenetic tree clearly distinguishes O. agriotidis from O. liaoningensis (Fig. 1 ). Zha et al. (2021) provided the first comprehensive review of wireworm-infecting Cordyceps sensu lato species, documenting 27 species within Ophiocordyceps . These fungi are phylogenetically distinct from O. liaoningensis . However, eight species were described solely based on morphological characteristics, highlighting the need for further molecular studies to clarify their taxonomic status ( Zha et al. 2021). In contrast, Ophiocordyceps liaoningensis is characterized by superficial perithecia, multiseptate ascospores that do not break into part-spores, bottle-shaped phialides, and ovoid or subglobose conidia (Table 2 ). Both morphological observation and phylogenetic analyses of combined LSU, ITS, SSU, tef- 1 α, rpb 1, and rpb 2 sequence data support that this fungus is a distinctive species in Ophiocordyceps .

Figures

Figure 1. A phylogram constructed using a maximum likelihood (ML) analysis with RAxML based on concatenated LSU, ITS, SSU, tef- 1 α, rpb 1, and rpb 2 sequence data. Tolypocladium inflatum and T. ophioglossoides were employed as outgroup taxa. Nodes with maximum likelihood bootstrap values ≥ 75 % and Bayesian posterior probabilities ≥ 0.90 are indicated on the phylogram. Type strains are in bold and marked with T, and the new species are in red.

Figure 2. Ophiocordyceps liaoningensis (HKAS 132276, holotype) a habitat b overview of the host and stroma c host (larva of Elateridae) d fertile part on stroma showing superficial perithecia e – f cross section of perithecia g – i asci j – n, p ascospores o apical cap q synnema r – t conidiophores u – t phialide w conidia. Scale bars: 1 cm (b); 0.5 cm (c, q); 0.1 cm (d); 500 μm (e); 100 μm (f – n); 30 μm (r – t, p); 10 μm (u, v); 5 μm (w).