Abstract
Entomopathogenic fungi are ubiquitous in tropical rainforests and feature a high level of diversity. This group of fungi not only has important ecological value but also medicinal value. Nevertheless, they are often ignored, and many unknown species have yet to be discovered and described. The present study aims to contribute to the taxonomical and phylogenetic understanding of the genus Paraisaria by describing three new species collected from Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces in China and Krabi Province in Thailand. The three novel species named Paraisaria alba, P. arcta, and P. rosea share similar morphologies as those in the genus Paraisaria, containing solitary, simple, fleshy stroma, completely immersed perithecia and cylindrical asci with thickened caps and filiform ascospores that often disarticulate at maturity. Phylogenetic analyses of combined LSU, SSU, TEF1-α, RPB1, RPB2, and ITS sequence data confirm their placement in the genus Paraisaria. In this study, the three entomopathogenic taxa are comprehensively described with color photographs and phylogenetic analyses. A synopsis table and a key to all treated species of Paraisaria are also included.
Highlights
Entomopathogenic fungi are a group of unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic, eukaryotic microorganisms that can enter into a parasitic relationship with parasitized insects, killing or otherwise disabling their hosts (Samson et al, 1988)
Phylogenetic analyses were constructed with combined LSU, SSU, TEF1-α, RPB1, RPB2, and ITS sequences data of 58 representative taxa in Ophiocordycipitaceae
The first parsimonious tree was represented as the best tree, with consistency index (CI) = 0.549, retention index (RI) = 0.777, rescaled consistency index (RC) = 0.426 and homoplasy index (HI) = 0.451
Summary
Entomopathogenic fungi are a group of unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic, eukaryotic microorganisms that can enter into a parasitic relationship with parasitized insects, killing or otherwise disabling their hosts (Samson et al, 1988). They reproduce via sexual or asexual spores, or both (Mora et al, 2017). Some insect pathogens with pharmacological activities are frequently studied, such as Cordyceps militaris extract, which exhibits antitumor properties (Li et al, 2020). Entomopathogenic fungi have important biotechnological applications (Hyde et al, 2019) and Paraisaria is no exception. Applications of other species in this genus have been poorly studied
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