Hypocreales » Ophiocordycipitaceae » Ophiocordyceps

Ophiocordyceps globiceps

Ophiocordyceps globiceps Y.P. Xiao, T.C. Wen & K.D. Hyde, MycoKeys 47: 60 (2019)

Index Fungorum number: IF 555323; Facesoffungi number: FoF 04864

Parasitic on fly. Sexual morph: Stromata 9.5–11 mm, laterally emerging from abdomen of host, yellow, multiple, branched, stipitate. Fertile head 2–3 mm in diam., globose, lateral surface furrowed. Stipe 7–10 mm, cylindrical, straight. Perithecia 480–860 × 110–330 μm (x̄ = 631 × 183, n = 15), ovoid, immersed, ostiolate. Asci up to 215 μm long, 4 μm wide, filiform. Ascospores filiform, multiseptate, as long as asci, disarticulating into secondary ascospores when mature. Secondary ascospores 6.5–9 × 1.2– 1.7 μm (x̄ = 7.5 × 1.4, n = 55), hyaline, slightly fusiform, aseptate, smooth-walled.

Material examined – Thailand, Chiang Mai Province, Chiang Dao District, on fly attached to a dead twig on leaf litter, 12 August 2020, De-Ping Wei, CD0803 (MFLU 22-0267).

Notes – In the multigene phylogenetic tree, our collection (MFLU 22-0267) is sister to the type of O. globiceps with maximum support (Fig. 1). It shares similar morphologies with O. globiceps in producing yellow, stipitate stroma with terminal globose fertile head, immersed perithecia, narrow cylindrical asci and filiform multiseptate ascospores (Xiao et al. 2019). However, our collection has branched stromata and infects flies with green dorsal color, whereas the type specimen of O. globiceps has unbranched stromata and infects flies with reddish brown dorsal color. Additionally, our collectionhas longer stroma (9.5–11 mm vs. 4–8 mm) and larger secondary ascospores (6.5–9 × 1.2– 1.7 μm vs. 4–5.4 × 1.2–1.9 μm) compared with that of O. globiceps. Nucleotide comparison between our collection and O. globiceps shows that there are 12 bp differences and two gaps within the 439 bp ITS region. Considering the insufficient differences upon the morphology, nucleotide sequence and the phylogenetic distance, we determine our collection as O. globiceps. This finding indicates that this species is not host-specific, but can infect other aligned fly species.

 

 

Ophiocordyceps globiceps (MFLU 22-0267). k Stromata emerging from hosts. l Fertile parts. m Section through fertile parts. n, o Perithecia. p Ascus. q Part of ascus. r–t Secondary ascospores. Scale bars: l = 1000 µm, m = 500 µm, n, o = 300 µm, p = 50 µm, q, r = 10 µm, s, t = 3 µm.

 

Reference:

Wei DP, Gentekaki E, Wanasinghe DN, Tang SM, Hyde KD. Diversity, molecular dating and ancestral characters state reconstruction of entomopathogenic fungi. Mycosphere. 13(2): 281–351.

 

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