Natura Croatica Issue number: Natura Croatica, Vol. 10 No.3

O vrsti Cordyceps riverae (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) u špiljama Hrvatske

Authors: Neven Matočec, Roman Ozimec

Authors and affiliation

  • Neven Matočec Ruđer Bošković Institute, Division for marine and environmental research, Bijenička cesta 54, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Roman Ozimec ADIPA–Croatian Society for Natural History Diversity Research & Conservation, Orehovečki ogranak 37, HR-100 40 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

This paper appears to be the first contribution on cave macromycetes in Croatia. During the systematic biospeleological field work in the Dinaric karst area, eight more or less stable populations of the entomogenous species Cordyceps riverae Pacioni (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) have been located since 1990. Some 200 speleological sites have been visited so far in order to find both living and/or infected hosts, with 69 sites colonized by two subtroglophilic lepidopteran species of the genus Triphosa (Geometridae) which are apparently the only surely known hosts of the fungus. C. riverae was collected from five localities (situated in Gorski kotar, Kordun and Dalmatia regions) out of eight speleological sites in which the species was recorded. A full description of C. riverae, a comparison with the holotype collection, detailed ecological observations, as well as the mapping of known distribution of both the species and host are given. C. riverae is recorded in Croatia for the first time.

Keywords

Ascomycota, Hypocreales, Cordyceps riverae, Lepidoptera, Triphosa dubitata, T. sabau- diata, biospeleology, ecology, mapping, morphology, mycofloristics Croatia