Studies On Multigene Molecular Systematics Of Several Cordyceps And Its Allies

Cordyceps sensu lato is a large group of entomogenous fungi with534speciesreported by international mycological directory database in2011. Among these,139species have been reported in China. The traditional classification method of Cordyceps isdepending on morphological characteristics. But it is not easy for Cordyceps sensu lato tosurvive under labotatory conditions and forming the spore-bearing structures for thecomplex life cycle and it is hard to observe the teleomorph phase for the differentmorphology in the growth stage. All these result in the unclear relationship betweenteleomorph and its corresponding anamorph. So Cordyceps resources investigation andclassification can not only rely on the traditional classification method.Cordyceps sensu lato and162taxa of the family Clavicipitaceae were researchedsystematicly by Sung at al, using5to7gene locus, which were EF-1α, RPB1, RPB2,ATP6, β-tubulin and ribosomal subunits. The results showed that the genus Cordyceps andthe family Clavicipitaceae are all polyphuletic and shoud be reclassified. In the newclassification system, Clavicipitaceae was divided into three monophyletic families,including Cordycipitaceae, Ophiocordycipitaceae and Clavicipitaceae s. str. And thegenus Cordyceps was divided into four genera, i.e. Cordyceps s. s., Elaphocordyceps,Metacordyceps and Ophiocordyceps.The taxonomic status of thirteen species of Cordyceps s. l. was investigated in thispaper by the multiple gene molecular phylogenetics methods. The main results are reportedas follows:The taxonomic status of Ophiocordyceps tricentri, Cordyceps pruinosa and O.longissima which had been researched by the new classification system method, wasvalidaded in this paper.O. oxycephala, O. filiformis, O. myrmecophila, O. gracilioides, Cordyceps bassiana,and O. clavata, had been researched by the morphological classification method ofmulti-gene molecular systems, were validated in this paper too.Cordyceps kusanagiensis, C.martialis and C. nelumboides having not been researchedaccording to the new phylogeny, were established their taxonomic status in this paper.The reasonableness of C. kusanagiensis which belonged to the genus Metacordycepswas verified. Its name was recombined to Metacordyceps kusanagiensis.Cordyceps martialis should belong to the genus Ophiocordyceps, and the name wasrevised to Ophiocordyceps martialis. Cordyceps nelumboides belongs to the family Cordycipitceae, not any genus of thefour genera, and has a close kinship with Cordyceps s. str. its name remained the same andits real taxonomic status need further study.