The wild resources of Psammosilene tunicoides have decreased sharply because of the long-term mining and excavation, which has led to the increased demand for its artificial cultivation. However, root rot represents a significant obstacle leading to a poor quality and product of P. tunicoides. Previous reports have not focused on root rot in P. tunicoides. Therefore, this study explores the rhizospheric and root endophytic microbial community structure and composition of healthy and root rot P. tunicoides to understand the mechanism underlying root rot. The properties of the rhizosphere soil were assessed using physiochemical methods, and the bacterial and fungal populations were studied through amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes and ITS regions in the root and soil. Compared to healthy samples, the pH, hydrolysis N, available P, and available K were significantly decreased in the diseased samples while the organic matter and total organic carbon were significantly increased in the diseased samples. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that soil environmental factors are related to changes in the root and rhizosphere soil microbial community of P. tunicoides indicating that the physiochemical properties of soil affect plant health. Alpha diversity analysis showed that the microbial communities of healthy and diseased samples were similar. Some bacterial and fungal genera were significantly increased or decreased (P < 0.05) in diseased P. tunicoides, and certain microbial factors that antagonized root rot were further explored. This study provides an abundant microbial resource for future studies and contributes to improving soil quality and P. tunicoides agricultural production.

Two novel species, Ophiocordyceps yuanyangensis and O. gotrae , along with a new record, O. cylindrospora , parasitic on hymenopteran hosts, were collected in Yunnan, China. Morphological observations and multi-gene (nrSSU, nrLSU, tef -1α, rpb 1, and rpb 2) phylogenetic analyses confirmed their placement in the Hymenostilbe clade within the genus Ophiocordyceps . When compared with closely related species, O. gotrae is distinguished by a smaller fertile head and shorter asci, whereas O. yuanyangensis shows smaller fertile parts and asci but larger perithecia and part-spores. Phylogenetic evidence supports their recognition as distinct taxa. To date, 24 species in the Hymenostilbe clade have been reported parasitizing Hymenoptera . This study enriches the species diversity of the Hymenostilbe clade and highlights the importance of integrating morphological and molecular data for accurate taxonomic identification.