Biology cordycepsThe Hypocreales includes the more than 500 species of arthropod pathogenic (AP) fungi, more than any other order of Kingdom Fungi (Sung et al 2007). While any one species is generally restricted to a single host species or a set of closely related host species, hypocrealean AP fungi collectively attack species from 12 orders of Arthropoda (Kobayasi 1941, 1982). The distribution of these fungi is cosmopolitan, including all terrestrial regions except Antarctica, with the height of known species diversity occurring in subtropical and tropical regions, especially East and Southeast Asia.
Morphology. The majority of hypocrealean...