Polycephalomyces agaricus, a new hyperparasite of Ophiocordyceps sp. infecting melolonthid larvae in southwestern China

Abstract

A new species, Polycephalomyces agaricus, which is parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sp., a pathogen of melolonthid larvae in southwestern China, is described using morphological and phylogenetic evidence. This species differs morphologically from other species in the genus by its agaric-shaped synnemata, pileus-like slimy masses on short stipes, globose to subglobose α-conidia, and plenty of laterally or apically proliferating phialides. The phylogenetic analyses based on 5-locus (nrSSU, nrLSU, tef-1α, rpb1, and rpb2) data strongly support that this fungus is a distinct species in the genus.

Identification of a Novel Alternaria alternata Strain Able to Hyperparasitize Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, the Causal Agent of Wheat Stripe Rust

“…Characterization of newly isolated mycoparasites has contributed to a better understanding of the diversity of hyperparasites, and will lead to the discoveries of novel fungal species and the development of novel biocontrol agents ( Vandermeer et al, 2009 ; Baiswar et al, 2014 ; Wang et al, 2015 ; Zhong et al, 2016 ). The present study revealed a novel mycoparasite infecting Pst , the causal agent of wheat stripe rust.…”

“…For the morphological observation, mycelial disks of 5 mm in diameter were taken from the growing margins of 3-day old PDA culture, transferred to potato carrot agar (PCA) plates and incubated at 25°C in a 12-h photoperiod for 1 week to induce conidia production. In addition, microscope slide cultures were prepared by placing a small amount of mycelia on PDA medium blocks (5 mm diameter) overlaid by a cover slip ( Wang et al, 2015 ). Examination of the morphological characteristics of hyphae, conidiophores and conidia were conducted using an Olympus BX51T-32P01 optical microscope.…”

“…The strain CPA001 was cultured on cellophane placed on top of PDA medium and incubated at 25°C for 7 days, the mycelia were then harvested for DNA extraction. Genomic DNA was extracted with CTAB method described by Wang et al (2015) . DNA concentration was measured with a spectrophotometry (Nanodrop 2000, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wilmington, DE, USA).…”

Multigene phylogeny of the family Cordycipitaceae (Hypocreales): new taxa and the new systematic position of the Chinese cordycipitoid fungus Paecilomyces hepiali

“…The following primer pairs were used for PCR amplification. The primer pair, nrSSU-CoF and nrSSU-CoR was used to amplify the nuclear ribosomal small subunit (nrSSU) (Wang et al 2015a). The primer pair, LR5 and LR0R was used to amplify the nuclear ribosomal large subunit (nrLSU) (Vilgalys and Hester 1990;Rehner and Samuels 1994).…”

Fungal Planet description sheets: 558–624

“…The closest species to P. onorei in the ITS tree is P. agaricus , an asexual hyperparasite growing in the form of very small synnemata (0.3–1.2 mm) on an Ophiocordyceps sp. parasitising melolonthoid larvae ( Wang et al 2015 ).…”