Metarhizium puerense Hong Yu bis, J. M. Ma & Z. Q. Wang sp. nov. Materials Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceID: 5C808899-7FA6-5C36-8FA2-DBD6D69DBD82; Taxon: scientificName: Metarhizium puerense sp. nov.; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Yunnan; locality: Pu'er City, Simao District; verbatimElevation: 1358 m; verbatimLatitude: 22 ° 71.33 ' N; verbatimLongitude: 100 ° 95.57 ' E; Identification: identifiedBy: Hong Yu bis; Event: year: 2023; month: August; day: 2; Record Level: institutionID: YHH MP 2308031; collectionID: YFCCMP 9458 Type status: Other material. Occurrence: occurrenceID: E7C934B3-11EC-5ED2-A85F-CF9975A5C5E4; Taxon: scientificName: Metarhizium puerense sp. nov.; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Yunnan; locality: Pu'er City, Simao District; verbatimElevation: 1358 m; verbatimLatitude: 22 ° 71.33 ' N; verbatimLongitude: 100 ° 95.57 ' E; Identification: identifiedBy: Hong Yu bis; Event: year: 2023; month: August; day: 2; Record Level: institutionID: YHHMP 2308032; collectionID: YFCCMP 9459 Type status: Other material. Occurrence: occurrenceID: D72AACD2-AF02-550B-8D65-667FC7E27EB7; Taxon: scientificName: Metarhizium puerense sp. nov.; Location: country: China; stateProvince: Yunnan; locality: Pu'er City, Simao District; verbatimElevation: 1359 m; verbatimLatitude: 22 ° 71.33 ' N; verbatimLongitude: 100 ° 95.57 ' E; Identification: identifiedBy: Hong Yu bis; Event: year: 2023; month: August; day: 2; Record Level: institutionID: YHHMP 2308033 Description Sexual morph: Sexual morphs were not found. Asexual morph: Stroma arising from the larvae of Lepidoptera larva buried in soil, solitary or multiple, brownish in colour and producing a large number of green powdery conidia at the tip. Colonies on PDA grew at 25 ° C, reaching 25-28 mm diam. in 14 days, cottony with high mycelium density, white to light yellow and reverse yellow; 45-52 mm in diameter in 30 days at 25 ° C, first white turning to green, powdery while sporulating, white mycelium at the margin. Hyphae septate, smooth-walled. Conidiophores smooth, cylindrical and erect. Phialides cylindrical, borne singly on aerial mycelium or whorled on conidial peduncle, 6.1-17.6 × 1.5-2.9 µm. Conidia were smooth-walled, ellipsoid to columnar, rounded at the tip, aggregated into chains or clusters, 3.8-7.1 × 1.3-2.1 µm (Fig. 1). Notes: Phylogenetically, Metarhizium puerense is closely related to M. album, but differs in morphological characteristics. The morphological characteristics of M. puerense are as follows: stroma arising from the larva of Lepidoptera buried in soil, solitary or multiple, brownish in colour and producing a large number of green powdery conidia at the tip. Metarhizium album was collected from plants and leafhoppers (Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha) from rice. Moreover, M. puerense was indicated by its conidia size (3.8-7.1 × 1.3-2.1 µm), which was smaller than that of M. album (5-8 × 2-2.5 µm). The phialides of M. puerense (6.1-17.6 × 1.5-2.9 µm) was more slender than M. album (10-12.5 × 2-3.5 µm) (Michiel et al. 1987). Morphological comparisons of Metarhizium puerense with its related species (Table 2). Etymology Named after Pu'er City, where the species were first collected.

Published as part of Ma, Jin Mei, Wang, Zhi Qin, Yang, Zhi Li, Chen, Yue, Li, Song Yu & Yu, Hong, 2024, Metarhizium puerense (Hypocreales, Clavicipitaceae): a new species from Yunnan, south-western China, pp. e 129087 in Biodiversity Data Journal 12 on page e129087, DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.12.e129087