Diversity and taxonomy of invertebrate-pathogenic fungi
More than 30 years ago, less than 10 invertebrate-pathogenic fungi were recorded and most of these species were commonly found in agricultural ecosystems such as Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana. It was only in the last twenty years that collections in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries led to the discovery of many new species infecting invertebrates. Although this entomogenous mode of nutrition can be seen in different phyla in Kingdom Fungi, many of our collections are from members of the Hypocreales in the Ascomycota in the families Clavicipitaceae, Cordycipitaceae, and Ophiocordycipitaceae. More than 150 species are now in pure culture and deposited in the BIOTEC culture collection for further taxonomic, phylogenetic and applied studies