Similitrichoconis wongii gen. & sp. nov. from Ecuador

A new anamorphic genus and species Similitrichoconis wongii are described and illustrated. The fungus, found on submerged decaying leaf of an unidentified plant in Ecuador, is characterized by blastic production of obclavate to long fusiform, hyaline phragmoconidia that are rostrate above, uncinate below, and produced by schizolytic conidial secession of clear to translucent conidiogenous cells.

Mesocorynespora sinensis gen. & sp. nov. from southern China

A new anamorphic genus and species, Mesocorynespora sinensis collected on decaying culms of bamboo in China, is described and illustrated. The fungus is distinguished by short, unbranched, clavate conidiophores with monotretic, conidiogenous cells that produce solitary, acrogenous, obclavate, euseptate conidia. A key to Mesocorynespora and morphologically similar genera is provided.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGI SAMPLE DL0069 BY COMBINATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSES

Species of Simplicillium are biological control agents against certain plant diseases caused by insects and nematodes due to their ability to parasite and kill the host. Recently, this anamorphic genus is classified under Cordycipitaceae as a monophyletic group apart from the type genus Cordyceps. In this current research, we reported the combination of morphological data and molecular phylogenies to identify an entomopathogenic fungal sample (DL0069) found in the mountainous regions of Langbian mountain, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. Through formation of phialides and conidial chains, DL0069 was most likely a member of Simplicillium genus. From molecular phylogenetic analyses of a portion of the nuclear large ribosomal unit (nrLSU), it was confirmed that DL0069 was most closely related with Simplicillium chinense, a recently found Simplicillium species with a high potency as a biocontrol of nematodes parasiting plants.