Insight into the Systematics of Novel Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Armored Scale Insect, Kuwanaspis howardi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in China

Xiu-Lan Xu; Qian Zeng; Yi-Cong Lv; Rajesh Jeewon; Sajeewa S N Maharachchikumbura; Dhanushka N Wanasinghe; Kevin D Hyde; Qian-Gang Xiao; Ying-Gao Liu; Chun-Lin Yang

doi:10.3390/jof7080628

Insight into the Systematics of Novel Entomopathogenic Fungi Associated with Armored Scale Insect, Kuwanaspis howardi (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in China

J Fungi (Basel). 2021 Aug 2;7(8):628. doi: 10.3390/jof7080628.

Authors

Xiu-Lan Xu^{1

2

3}, Qian Zeng^{1

2}, Yi-Cong Lv^{1

2}, Rajesh Jeewon⁴, Sajeewa S N Maharachchikumbura⁵, Dhanushka N Wanasinghe⁶, Kevin D Hyde⁷, Qian-Gang Xiao³, Ying-Gao Liu^{1

2}, Chun-Lin Yang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China.
² Sichuan Province Key Laboratory of Ecological Forestry Engineering on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China.
³ Research Institute of Forestry, Chengdu Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Chengdu 611130, China.
⁴ Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Mauritius, Reduit 80837, Mauritius.
⁵ School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
⁶ CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 649201, China.
⁷ Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand.

Abstract

This study led to the discovery of three entomopathogenic fungi associated with Kuwanaspis howardi, a scale insect on Phyllostachys heteroclada (fishscale bamboo) and Pleioblastus amarus (bitter bamboo) in China. Two of these species belong to Podonectria: P. kuwanaspidis X.L. Xu & C.L. Yang sp. nov. and P. novae-zelandiae Dingley. The new species P. kuwanaspidis has wider and thicker setae, longer and wider asci, longer ascospores, and more septa as compared with similar Podonectria species. The morphs of extant species P. novae-zelandiae is confirmed based on sexual and asexual morphologies. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1-α, and rpb2 sequence data provide further evidence for the validity of the two species and their placement in Podonectriaceae (Pleosporales). The second new species, Microcera kuwanaspidis X.L. Xu & C.L. Yang sp. nov., is established based on DNA sequence data from ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1-α, rpb1, rpb2, acl1, act, cmdA, and his3 gene regions, and it is characterized by morphological differences in septum numbers and single conidial mass.

Keywords: 2 new taxa; Nectriaceae; Podonectriaceae; bamboo; entomopathogens; scale insect.

Grants and funding

510100－201700290－2017－00363/Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau