A multigene phylogenetic and morphological study of five fungal specimens collected in China identified two previously undescribed species of Perennicordyceps and documented a new host association for Perennicordyceps prolifica. The new taxa, Perennicordyceps liupanshuiensis and Perennicordyceps tielingensis, were recognized from combined molecular and microscopic evidence. The five collections came from coleopteran larvae, lepidopteran cocoons and an Ophiocordyceps species collected in Guizhou, Liaoning and Yunnan provinces. The findings expand the documented species diversity and host associations of a fungal lineage within Polycephalomycetaceae, Hypocreales.
Perennicordyceps is a genus of clavicipitoid fungi established to accommodate species formerly placed in Polycephalomyces. Members of the genus are primarily associated with insect larvae or pupae, especially beetles and moths, and are characterized by stromatic sexual structures with superficial perithecia and acremonium- or hirsutella-like asexual forms. More recent work has documented Perennicordyceps species associated not only with insects but also with other fungi. The new study addresses this diversity by combining field collection, culture attempts, detailed examination of macroscopic and micromorphological structures, and phylogenetic analyses of six nuclear gene regions.
Five fresh specimens were examined after collection from insect hosts and associated fungi in China. During fieldwork, the researchers recorded collection sites, coordinates and other relevant metadata, then transported the specimens to the laboratory in sterile plastic containers. Stromata were sectioned and examined with stereomicroscopes. Features including perithecia, asci, ascospores, synnemata, conidiophores, phialides and conidia were observed and photographed with a compound microscope. Mycelium was isolated from host tissue and transferred to potato dextrose agar under aseptic conditions. Cultures were incubated at 25 °C in darkness, and the resulting strains and dried specimens were deposited in the Guizhou Culture Collection and the Herbarium of Cryptogams at the Kunming Institute of Botany.
The molecular dataset included the nuclear large subunit rDNA region, ITS, nuclear small subunit rDNA, tef-1α, rpb1 and rpb2. The final combined alignment contained 5,021 characters from 45 strains representing 36 taxa. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses produced congruent topologies. The maximum-likelihood analysis used 1,000 bootstrap replicates, while the Bayesian analysis ran six Markov chains for 5,000,000 generations and sampled every 100 generations. The authors treated maximum-likelihood bootstrap values of at least 75% and Bayesian posterior probabilities of at least 0.90 as significant. Ophiocordyceps sinensis and Ophiocordyceps stylophora were designated as outgroups. The resulting placements supported the separation of the two new species from previously described taxa.
Perennicordyceps liupanshuiensis was described from a coleopteran larva on leaf litter in Shuicheng County, Liupanshui City, Guizhou, at 2,377 metres elevation. A paratype was collected from a coleopteran larva in Honghe County, Yunnan. Its sexual morph produces yellowish-white, cylindrical, unbranched stromata with a pale yellow to pale yellow-brown subglobose fertile head. The perithecia are superficial, ampulliform and ostiolate, measuring 255–356 by 155–231 micrometres. Asci are filiform and hyaline, and mature ascospores break into numerous short, cylindrical, one-celled secondary ascospores. The asexual morph includes slender, erect white synnemata, reduced conidiophores arising directly from superficial hyphae, phialides and one-celled ellipsoid to ovoid conidia. Repeated isolation attempts did not produce a stable culture.
The closest phylogenetic relative of P. liupanshuiensis was P. zongqii, for which only the asexual morph is known. The two species differ in the organization and size of their phialides: P. liupanshuiensis has phialides measuring 8.7–19.5 by 1.8–2.7 micrometres that arise directly from hyphae, whereas P. zongqii has well-developed conidiophores bearing multiple phialides, described as 29.3–31.1 by 1.5–2.4 micrometres. Their reported hosts also differ, with P. liupanshuiensis collected from coleopteran larvae and P. zongqii reported from lepidopteran larvae. Pairwise comparisons found differences of 1.5% in ITS, 1.7% in tef-1α and 2.1% in rpb2. The combined molecular and morphological differences supported recognition of P. liupanshuiensis as a distinct species.
Perennicordyceps tielingensis was described from a specimen growing on the stipe of an unidentified Ophiocordyceps species collected from leaf litter in Xifeng County, Tieling City, Liaoning, at 385 metres elevation. The fungus forms white to pale-yellow cylindrical synnemata measuring 5–17 millimetres long and 0.5–1.3 millimetres wide, without an enlarged globose fertile head. Its conidiophores measure 20–35 by 2.2–3.6 micrometres and are usually branched into two to five phialides. The phialides are narrow, slender and lanceolate, measuring 5–16 by 1.2–2.5 micrometres, and the conidia are one-celled, hyaline, smooth-walled and ellipsoid. Unlike P. liupanshuiensis, this species produced a stable culture from tissue isolation.
On potato dextrose agar, P. tielingensis grew slowly, reaching approximately 2 centimetres in diameter after 35 days at 25 °C. The colonies were fluffy, with lower mycelial density, and milky white to pale yellow on both the obverse and reverse. No synnemata were observed in culture. The fungus clustered with P. lutea and P. paracuboidea with 99% maximum-likelihood bootstrap support and a Bayesian posterior probability of 0.92. Comparisons with P. lutea showed shorter phialides and smaller conidia in P. tielingensis. Relative to P. paracuboidea, P. tielingensis had shorter phialides but larger conidia. Sequence differences from P. paracuboidea were 2.4% in ITS, 4.2% in nrSSU, 3.6% in tef-1α, 1.7% in rpb1 and 2.6% in rpb2. Only nrLSU sequence data were available for P. lutea, with a 2.1% difference in that region. These observations supported the designation of P. tielingensis as a new species.
The third finding concerns P. prolifica, represented by a specimen collected from a lepidopteran cocoon buried in soil in Xishui County, Zunyi City, Guizhou, at 967 metres elevation. The specimen formed solitary, straight and white cylindrical synnemata measuring 5–6 centimetres long, with a slightly tapering apex. Its conidiophores were sparse and simple, and the phialides were hirsutella-like, hyaline and tapering toward the apex. The conidia were one-celled, hyaline, smooth-walled and ellipsoidal. Phylogenetic analysis placed the specimen with strain NBRC 101750 of P. prolifica with 96% maximum-likelihood support and a Bayesian posterior probability of 1.00, and its morphology agreed with the published description.
P. prolifica was originally described from underground-dwelling cicada nymphs, and the new Chinese specimen represents both a new geographic record for the species and a new host record because it was collected from a lepidopteran cocoon. The study did not observe the sexual morph of this specimen, and repeated isolation attempts did not yield a stable culture. The new association therefore expands the reported host range of P. prolifica, while the phylogenetic and morphological agreement supports the identification of the fungus as that species. It does not, by itself, establish how or when the fungus moved between host types.
Overall, the study documents two additional species within Perennicordyceps and adds a lepidopteran host record for P. prolifica, using evidence from six gene regions alongside detailed morphology. The discovery of P. tielingensis on an Ophiocordyceps stipe adds to the recorded ecological diversity of Polycephalomycetaceae, a family that includes insect-associated and fungus-associated taxa. The findings also illustrate the taxonomic value of asexual structures, including phialide dimensions and the organization of conidiophores, particularly for species whose sexual morphs are unknown or rarely observed. The researchers note that broader studies combining taxonomy, ecology and natural-product research are needed to clarify the biological significance of these fungal lineages, including their possible secondary metabolites.
Subject of Research: Taxonomic discovery and host associations of Perennicordyceps fungi in China
Article Title: Two new species and one new record of Perennicordyceps ( Polycephalomycetaceae , Hypocreales ) from China
Article References: Yang, Y., Zhang, J.-Y., Liu, H.-X., Hyde, K. D., Lu, Y.-Z., Gong, Y.-P., Zhang, B.-X., & Xiao, Y.-P. (2026). Two new species and one new record of Perennicordyceps (Polycephalomycetaceae, Hypocreales) from China. MycoKeys, 136, 61-78. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.136.199287
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.3897/mycokeys.136.199287
Keywords: fungal taxonomy, Perennicordyceps, Polycephalomycetaceae, Hypocreales, phylogenetics, new fungal species, host associations, fungicolous fungi, China, morphology, species, record
News Source: Roger Howard. (October 20, 2026). Two new Perennicordyceps species and a new host record from China. Scienmag.
