Type: Tolypocladium_inflatum W. Gams. Etymology: The specific epithet ‘inusitaticapitatum’ is derived from the combination of two Latin words, 1) adjective inusitata (strange, odd) and 2) noun capitatum (head), pointing to the fertile head, which is irregularly expanded. Description: Sexual morph: Stromata arise directly from the host and are sometimes indirectly connected to the host through rhizomorph-like structures. They range from solitary to several and can be simple or branched. Stipe is fibrous to tough, rarely fleshy, dark-brownish to greenish with an olivaceous tint, rarely whitish, cylindrical and enlarges near the fertile part. The fertile part is clavate- to capitate-shaped and varies in color. Perithecia are partially to completely immersed, or superficial, or produced on a highly reduced stromatic pad, and ostiolate. Asci are unitunicate and long cylindrical with a thickened apical cap. Ascospores are filiform, approximately as long as asci, multi-septate, typically disarticulate into part-spores, and are occasionally non-disarticulating when mature (e.g., T. ramosum). Part-spores are hyaline, fusiform to cylindrical with round to truncate ends. Asexual morph: They are Tolypocladium, Chaunopycnis, or verticillium-like. Colonies are white, cottony and grow slowly on artificial media (e.g., potato dextrose agar, Czapek–Dox agar, malt extract agar, Sabouraud Glucose agar and water agar). Conidiophores usually are short and bear lateral or terminal phialides whorls. Phialides usually are swollen at the base and thin, often with bent necks. Conidia are globose to oval, one-celled, hyaline, smooth, and aggregative in small heads at the tips of the phialides. Host: Found in terrestrial and humid environments. Species of Tolypocladium parasitize hypogeous Elaphomyces (20 species including the novel species described in this study), cicada nymphs (4 species), beetle larvae (T. inflatum), pupa of the bagworm moth (T. fumosum), mosquito larvae (T. extinguens), and even bdelloid rotifers exposed to air (T. lignicola and T. trigonosporum). Their ascospores/conidia and mycelia survive in soil, or on various humus, rotting wood, plant tissues and surfaces, body surfaces of insects and mites, tissues of Cordyceps and lichens.

Reference: Yu FM, Thilini Chethana KW, Wei DP, et al. (2021). Comprehensive Review of Tolypocladium and Description of a Novel Lineage from Southwest China. Pathogens10: 1389. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111389