MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF Cordyceps COLLECTED FROM XUAN SON NATIONAL PARK AND COPIA NATURAL RESERVE

Abstract

The Cordyceps is an important genus that includes over 183 recorded species and globally distributed. They have been applied a lot in medicine and agriculture. There has been 13 Cordyceps species recorded in Vietnam. However, the detailed descriptions of species found in Vietnam is limited. In this study, the fungal samples were collected from the Xuan Son National Park in Phu Tho province and the Copia Nature Reserve, Son La province were morphologically described and identified to species using morphological characteristics together with molecular analysis of LSU, ITS, RPB1 sequences. The studied taxa were Cordyceps cicadae, C. takaomontana, C. militaris and two unidentified samples, Cordyceps sp. CPA64 and Cordyceps sp. XS142. The study gave useful insight of diversity and distribution of Cordyceps species in the two studied sites, Copia and Xuanson and also introducing new records of C. cicadae in Vietnam. The two unidentified samples might be new species to science and that needs to have further studies to clarify taxonomy of the two samples.