Morphological and phylogenetic characterisation of two new soil-borne fungal taxa belonging to Clavicipitaceae (Hypocreales, Ascomycota)

Abstract

The fungal taxa belonging to the Clavicipitaceae (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) are widely distributed and include diverse saprophytic, symbiotic and pathogenic species that are associated with soils, insects, plants, fungi and invertebrates. In this study, we identified two new fungal taxa belonging to the family Clavicipitaceae that were isolated from soils collected in China. Morphological characterisation and phylogenetic analyses showed that the two species belong to Pochonia (Pochonia sinensis sp. nov.) and a new genus for which we propose Paraneoaraneomyces gen. nov. in Clavicipitaceae.