Morphological and molecular analyses reveal two new species of (Nectriaceae, Hypocreales) associated with scale insects on walnut in China.

The fungal genus consists of species mostly occurring as parasites of scale insects, but are also commonly isolated from soil or lichens. In the present study, we surveyed the diversity and assess the taxonomy of entomopathogenic fungi in Sichuan Province, China. Two new species of , viz. and , were isolated from scale insects colonising walnut (). Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses of ITS, LSU, 1-α, 1, 2, 1, , 2, A and 3 sequence data provide evidence for the validity of the two species and their placement in Nectriaceae (Hypocreales). primarily differs from similar species by having more septate and smaller cylindrical macroconidia, as well as DNA sequence data. Meanwhile, has elliptical, one-septate ascospores with acute ends and cylindrical, slightly curved with 4-6 septate macroconidia up to 78 µm long. Morphological descriptions with illustrations of the novel species and DNA-based phylogeny generated from analyses of multigene dataset are also provided to better understand species relationships.