Anamorph state: Verticillium hemipterigenum Petch

Specimens were found on the leafhopper attached to the underside of living leaves of forest plants. Stroma consisting of dense hyphae, completely covering the host, white to grayish or pale yellow weft, up to 5 mm; perithecia superficial, scattered on host, grayish or pale yellow, elongate ovoid, ca. 850 µm deep, ca. 350 µm diam., surrounded by white mycelium; asci cylindrical, up to 650 µm long, ca. 3.8 µm diam., with distinct, thickened hyaline cap ca. 3.8 µm long, ca. 3.5 µm diam.; ascospores, as long as the ascus, hyaline, breaking to part-spores, 125-212 µm long, ca. 1 µm diam., mature part-spores up to 600 µm, ca. 1 µm diam. Conidiophores scattered, surrounding the perithecia sometimes on leaf surface. Conidiophores consisting of several whorls of phialides. Phialides in whorls of 6, with a swollen elongate flask-shaped base, ca.10.5 µm long, ca.1.2 µm diam.; conidia hyaline, 3.2-4.5x1.2-2 µm, smooth-walled, fusoid. Discharged ascospores will germinate within 12 h on PDA. Some ascospores produced secondary conidia on hard surfaces (eg. cover slip). Colonies are fast-growing attaining a diam. of 1 cm after ca. 2 wk on PDA at 20oC. Colonies white. So far, these samples are only known from two sites, in Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary (west Thailand) and Khao Yai National Park (central Thailand).

Petch, T. (1932). Note on entomogenous fungi. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 16: 209-245. Hywel-Jones, N. L., Evans, H. C. & Jun, Y. (1997). A re-evaluation of the leafhopper pathogen Torrubiella hemipterigena, its anamorph Verticillium hemipterigenum and V. pseudohemipterigenum sp. nov. Mycological Research 101: 1242-1246.