Specimens were found fixed on the tips or the ends of palm fronds of Daemonorob kunstleri. Host is Camponotus gigas (Hymenoptera).Three stromata are usually present. A single stroma arises from the back of the head, 8-9 mm long. The other two stromata emerge from the top joints of the left and right forelegs where these join the thorax, the right stroma is ca. 6.5-17 mm long and the left stroma ca. 7-18 mm long, blackish brown. One to three dark-brown to black perithecial cushions could be produced on each stroma.The perithecia are fusoid-ellipsoid with rounded ostioles, 350-420 x 180-210 µm, with ostioles slightly protruding on the surface of the fertile cushion. Asci cylindric, eight-spored, 150-200 x 7-10 µm. Ascospores are lanceolate with tapering ends, 60-75 x 3-5 µm, multiseptate, remaining whole after discharge. In culture the colonies on PDA are very slow to germinate. Recently, a method for isolating Ophiocordyceps unilateralis has proven successful with fastidious strains by inducing the production of blastospores in Grace’s insect tissue culture medium. (Wongsa et al. 2005). This species is not commonly found in Thailand and has only been collected from Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, Narathiwat province (Southern Thailand) but Camponotus gigas ants are found in Southern Thailand from Surat Thani to Narathiwat province.

Luangsa-ard, J.J., Ridkaew, R., Tasanathai, K., Thanakitpipattana, D. & Hywel-Jones, N.L. (2011). Ophiocordyceps halabalaensis: a new species of Ophiocordyceps pathogenic to Camponotus gigas in Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern Thailand. Fungal Biology 115: 608-614. Wongsa, P., Tasanatai, K., Watts, P. & Hywel-Jones, N.L. (2005). Isolation and cultivation of the insect pathogenic fungus Cordyceps unilateralis. Mycological Research 109: 936-940.