Cordyceps mopanshiensis, a new species from Guizhou, China

Cordyceps species are an important edible medicinal bioresource, playing pivotal roles in healthcare and biological control, regulating pest populations and enhancing the exploitation of chemical medicine agents. This study describes a novel entomopathogenic Cordyceps collected from Dashahe Nature Reserve in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, China. Cordyceps mopanshiensis parasitizes lepidopteran pupae and is characterized by its ability to simultaneously produce both stromata and synnemata. It typically develops 2–10 pale yellow to yellowish stromata with semi-immersed perithecia. Compared with related species, the new species exhibits smaller phialides and shorter asci. Multi-gene phylogeny based on combined sequence data of 5-loci genes (ITS, nrLSU, nrSSU, tef1-α, and rpb2) confirmed that it is a new species in Cordyceps. This study enriches the species diversity of Cordyceps, and deepens our understanding of the distribution of Cordyceps species in karst ecosystems.