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

ABSTRACT: 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, Neoaraneomycesaraneicola, Pseudometarhiziumaraneogenum, and an insect-associated species Pseudometarhiziumlepidopterorum 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-

SUBMITTER: Chen WH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9849053 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature