Morphological and Molecular Phylogenetic Data of the Chinese Medicinal Fungus Cordyceps liangshanensis Reveal Its New Systematic Position in the Family Ophiocordycipitaceae

Yao Wang; Yong-Dong Dai; Zhong-Lin Yang; Rui Guo; Yuan-Bing Wang; Zhu L Yang; Lei Ding; Hong Yu

doi:10.1080/12298093.2021.1923388

Morphological and Molecular Phylogenetic Data of the Chinese Medicinal Fungus Cordyceps liangshanensis Reveal Its New Systematic Position in the Family Ophiocordycipitaceae

Mycobiology. 2021 Jun 11;49(4):297-307. doi: 10.1080/12298093.2021.1923388. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yao Wang^{1

2}, Yong-Dong Dai^{1

2}, Zhong-Lin Yang^{1

2}, Rui Guo^{1

2}, Yuan-Bing Wang^{1

2}, Zhu L Yang³, Lei Ding⁴, Hong Yu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Yunnan Herbal Laboratory, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
² The International Joint Research Center for Sustainable Utilization of Cordyceps Bioresources in China and Southeast Asia, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
³ Yunnan Key Laboratory for Fungal Diversity and Green Development, Kunming, China.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.

Abstract

A cordycipitoid fungus infecting Hepialidae sp. in Nepal was supposed to be identical to Cordyceps liangshanensis, originally described from southwestern China, and thus, transferred to the genus Metacordyceps or Papiliomyces in previous studies. However, our multi-gene (nrSSU-nrLSU-tef-1α-rpb1-rpb2) phylogenetic and morphological studies based on the type specimen and additional collections of C. liangshanensis revealed that the fungus belongs to the genus Ophiocordyceps (Ophiocordycipitaceae). Therefore, a new combination O. liangshanensis was made, and a detailed description of this species was provided.

Keywords: New combination; morphology; multiple genes; revision.

Grants and funding

This work was jointly funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31870017 and 31760011], and the Department of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province [2018FY001(-006)].