Published July 7, 2022 | Version v1

Phylogenetic, ecological and morphological characteristics reveal two new spider-associated genera in Clavicipitaceae

  • 1. Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China
  • 2. Guizhou University, Guiyang, China

Description

Clavicipitaceous fungi are pathogenic to scale insects, white flies and other insect orders. However, a few species are spider-associated. Two new genera from China, Neoaraneomyces and Pseudometarhizium, are described based on phylogenetic, ecological and morphological characteristics. Two spider-associated species, Neoaraneomyces araneicola, Pseudometarhizium araneogenum, and an insect-associated species Pseudometarhizium lepidopterorum are included. The morphological characteristics of paecilomyces-like conidiogenous structures, present in many insect/spiders associated species make species-level identifications difficult. A phylogenetic analysis of the combined dataset (ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TEF), placed the two new genera in Clavicipitaceae. The new spider-associated species may be the result of convergent evolution to adapt to the ecological environment and may have undergone host jumping or altered their nutritional preferences.

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