Multigene phylogeny and morphology reveal that the Chinese medicinal mushroom ‘ Cordyceps gunnii ’ is Metacordyceps neogunnii sp. nov.

Morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses of an entomogenous fungus associated with larvae of Lepidoptera in Guizhou and Anhui, China showed it to be a new species, Metacordyceps neogunnii. It differs from similar species in having longer asci and wider ascospores. Multigene analysis of ITS, 18S, TEF 1 and RPB 1 sequence data also confirmed the distinctiveness of this species. This species has been wrongly regarded in China as ‘ Cordyceps gunnii ’ for more than 30 years. Cordyceps gunnii from Tasmania is considered to be in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae based on its multigene phylogeny and morphological analysis.