Basionym: Isaria pistillariiformis Pat [as ‘pistillariaeformis], Bull Soc. Myc. 9: 163 (1893)

Isaria pistillariiformis Pat. [as ‘pistillariaeformis’], Bull Soc. Myc. 9: 163 (1893) Insecticola pistillariiformis (Pat.) Mains, [as ‘pistillariaeformis’] Mycologia 42: 579 (1950)

Teleomorph state: Cordyceps tuberculata Lebert

Specimens were found on the underside of mostly dicotyledonous leaves of forest plants. Hosts are adult moths (Lepidoptera). The fungus fastens the host on the leaves of the plants with thin hyphae surrounding the legs and edges of the wings; producing scattered white to cream synnemata arising from thin whitish mycelium over the insect, up to 4 cm long. Some specimens producing a mixture of synnematal forms – long, thin, cylindrical, emerging from the body of the moth and tiny, clavate synnemata up to 3 mm scattered over the wings, body and head. The hyphae of the synnema loosely interwoven and longitudinal, on the surface the phialides form a layer of compact hymenium. Phialides subcylindric to fusoid with long necks, 6.5 - 12.5 x 1.7 - 2.5 µm, conidia elongate cylindrical with rounded ends, catenulate, 2.5 - 4.5 x 1 µm. In culture the colonies on PDA are moderately fast growing, attaining a diam. of 3-4 cm in 14 d at 25°C. Colonies white, floccose with cream reverse. Akanthomyces pistillariiformis is a common species infecting adult moths in Thailand. The teleomorph Cordyceps tuberculata sometimes accompanies the anamorph state but is rarely found.

Mains, E.B. (1950). Entomogenous Species of Akanthomyces, Hymenostilbe and Insecticola in North America. Mycologia 42: 566-589. Samson, R.A. & Evans, H.C. (1974). Acta Botanica Neerlandica 23: 28-35. Sung, G.H., Hywel-Jones, N.L., Sung, J.M., Luangsa-ard, J.J., Shrestha, B. & Spatafora J.W. (2007). Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi. Studies in Mycology 57: 5-59.