Family: Cordycipitaceae

Cordycipitaceae

Fungi:> Ascomycota:> Ascomycetes:> Sordariomycetidae:> Hypocreales:> Cordycipitaceae:> Akanthomyces, Beauveria, Gibellula, Cordyceps .

Cordycipitaceae are a diverse family of parasitic ascomycetes best known for their brightly coloured, fleshy stromata arising from insects, spiders, and other fungi. Stromata may be simple, club-shaped, branched, or clavate, often yellow, orange, red, or pink, with embedded perithecia visible as tiny dots or pimples on the surface.

Genus: Akanthomyces

Akanthomyces comprises delicate, pale, insect- and spider-parasitic ascomycetes producing slender, simple or branched stromata arising from the bodies of spiders, spider egg sacs, and small insects. Stromata are typically white, cream, yellowish, or pale orange, often filiform or clavate, and may be solitary or in small tufts.

Akanthomyces aranearum

Akanthomyces tuberculatus

Genus: Beauveria

Beauveria comprises white, powdery, insect-pathogenic fungi producing dense layers of white conidiophores and conidia over the surface of infected insects. The fungus typically covers the host in a fine, chalky bloom, giving a “dusty” or “frosted” appearance. Sexual (teleomorphic) states belong to Cordyceps.

Beauveria bassiana

Genus: Gibellula

Gibellula comprises delicate, spider-parasitic fungi that produce fine, powdery, white to pastel-coloured conidial heads on slender stalks arising from the body of a dead spider. These fungi are entomopathogenic anamorphs in the Cordycipitaceae, and their sexual states belong to Torrubiella.

Gibellula pulchra

Genus: Cordyceps

Cordyceps is a genus of fleshy, brightly coloured parasitic ascomycetes that produce club-shaped or branched stromata arising from insects, spiders, or other fungi. Stromata are typically white, yellow, orange, red, or pink, with embedded perithecia visible as tiny dots or pimples on the surface.

Cordyceps sinclairii

Cordyceps tenuipes

The Hidden Forest Forest Fungi