Simplicillium formicae D. P. Wei & K. D. Hyde, MycoKeys

Simplicillium formicae D.P. Wei & K.D. Hyde, MycoKeys 60: 78 (2019) (Fig. 4) Colonies on PDA reaching a diameter of 50–51 mm in 14 days at 25 ℃, convex, with white velutinate aerial mycelium, reverse yellowish to brownish, especially in the middle, margin entire, soluble pigment not produced. Vegetative hyphae branched, hyaline, smooth-walled, septate, 0.8–1.7 μm wide. Phialides produced on aerial hyphae, always solitary, aseptate, hyaline, smooth-walled, relatively slender, and tapering toward the tip, 16.9–28.4 × 1.1–1.3 μm. Conidia hyaline, cylindrical, ellipsoidal to fusiform, aseptate, smooth-walled, 1-celled, 1.7–2.2 × 1.0–1.5 μm. Octahedral crystals absent. Sexual state not observed. Strains examined: — CHINA. Guizhou: Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Duyun City, Mayao River Valley (26°22'8.3748"N, 107°23'16.96"E), on a dead spider (Araneae), 4 September 2021, Wanhao Chen, DY09641 and DY09642. Note: —Strains DY09641 and DY09642 were easily identified as Simplicillium based on the blast result in NCBI and the phylogenetic analysis of combined datasets (ITS, LSU, TEF) (Fig. 1), and clustered with S. formicae D.P. Wei & K.D. Hyde in a clade (100/1). Pairwise dissimilarities of ITS sequences show only 3 bp differences within 518 bp between strains DY09641, DY09642 and S. formicae (0.58%). Thus, the molecular phylogenetic results strongly supported that strains DY09641 and DY09642 were S. formicae, which is a new species record in China.