Hymenostilbe furcata Aung, J.C. Kang, Z.Q. Liang, Soytong & K.D. Hyde Mycotaxon 97: 243 (2006)

Teleomorph state: Not known

Hosts are cockroach nymphs (Blattaria). Synnemata up to 20 (rarely one), up to 30 mm long, x 200-350 μm wide, cylindrical, very pale pink. Central core of parallel hyphae, cells 9.5-40 μm long x 3-4 μm wide. Hymenium of basal cells 4-18 μm long x 2.5-4 μm wide, each with one or two conidiogenous cells. Conidiogenous cells polyblastic, cylindrical to clavate, 11-20 μm long x 4.5-6 μm wide. Denticles crowded at the apex, cuneiform, 2-5 μm long, 1-1.5 μm wide at the base x 1.5-2.5 μm at the apex. Conidia solitary, ventricose, smooth-walled, hyaline, 10-14 μm long x 3.5-5.5 μm, base truncate 2-3 μm wide. Conidia on PDA germinated to produce microconidia but developed no further. Recently a method for isolating Ophiocordyceps unilateralis has proved successful with slow-growing isolates of blastospores in Grace’s insect tissue culture medium giving rise to slow-growing cultures on PDA (Wongsa et al. 2005). Hymenostilbe ventricosa is known only from central and northern Thailand: from Nam Nao National Park, Petchabun; Khao Yai National Park, Nakorn Ratchassima; Khlong Lan National Park, Kampangpet; Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary, Loei and Huai Nam Daeng National Park, Chiang Mai. It is especially common at the end of the rainy season. Aung et al. (2006) described Hymenostilbe furcata from a nymph in the insect order Hemiptera. However, the photograph of the nymph is clearly a cockroach in the order Blattaria and the description of the furcate nature of the conidiogenous cells is a misinterpretation of the cuneiform denticles. Given the host, the unique shape of the conidia and other details Hymenostilbe furcata is really Hymenostilbe ventricosa.

Aung, O.M., Kang, J.C., Liang, Z.Q., Soytong, K. & Hyde, K.D. (2006). A new entomopathogenic species, Hymenostilbe furcata, parasitic on a hemipteran nymph in northern Thailand. Mycotaxon 97: 241-245. Hywel-Jones, N.L. (1995). Hymenostilbe ventricosa sp. nov. a pathogen of cockroaches in Thailand. Mycological Research 99: 1201-1204. Wongsa, P., Tasanatai, K., Watts, P. & Hywel-Jones, N.L. (2005). Isolation and in vitro cultivation of the insect pathogenic fungus Cordyceps unilateralis. Mycological Research 109: 936-940.