Ophiocordyceps species infecting ants – the so-called zombie-ant fungi – comprise one of the most intriguing and fascinating relationships between microbes and animals. They are widespread within tropical forests worldwide, with relatively few reports from temperate ecosystems. These pathogens possess the ability to manipulate host behaviour in order to increase their own fitness. Depending on the fungal species involved the infected ants are manipulated either to leave the nest to ascend understorey shrubs, to die biting onto vegetation, or descend from the canopy to die at the base of trees. Experimental evidence has demonstrated that the behavioural change aids spore dispersal and thus increases the chances of infection, because of the existing behavioural immunity expressed inside ant colonies that limits fungal development and transmission. Despite their undoubted importance for ecosystem functioning, these fungal pathogens are still poorly documented, especially regarding their diversity, ecology and evolutionary relationships. Here, we describe 15 new species of Ophiocordyceps with hirsutella-like asexual morphs that exclusively infect ants. These form a monophyletic group that we identified in this study as myrmecophilous hirsutelloid species. We also propose new combinations for species previously described as varieties and provide for the first time important morphological and ecological information. The species proposed herein were collected in Brazil, Colombia, USA, Australia and Japan. All species could readily be separated using classic taxonomic criteria, in particular ascospore and asexual morphology.

蛇蝎物种感染蚂蚁-所谓的僵尸-真菌-构成了微生物和动物之间最有趣，最令人着迷的关系之一。它们在全世界的热带森林中广泛分布，温带生态系统的报道相对较少。这些病原体具有操纵宿主行为以增加自身适应性的能力。根据所涉及的真菌种类，可以对被感染的蚂蚁进行处理，以使其离开巢穴升入地下灌木丛，使其咬在植被上死亡，或者从树冠下降而在树木基部死亡。实验证据表明，行为改变有助于孢子散布，从而增加了感染机会，因为蚂蚁菌落内部表达的现有行为免疫力限制了真菌的发育和传播。尽管它们对生态系统功能无疑具有重要意义，但这些真菌病原体的文献仍然很少，特别是在它们的多样性，生态学和进化关系方面。在这里，我们描述了15种新的Ophiocordyceps与被毛样无性变种是专门传染蚂蚁。这些形成了单系群，我们在本研究中将其鉴定为嗜温性超亚种。我们还为以前称为品种的物种提出了新的组合，并首次提供了重要的形态和生态信息。本文提出的物种收集于巴西，哥伦比亚，美国，澳大利亚和日本。使用经典的分类标准，尤其是子囊孢子和无性形态，可以很容易地分离所有物种。