Ophiocordyceps Conference and Recent Publications
The June 9/10, 2010 International conference on Ophiocordyceps sinensis (冬虫夏草, Yartsa Gunbu, Caterpillar fungus) hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and co-sponsored by the Center of Grassland Monitoring and Management and WWF was held in Xining, Qinghai Province PRC. Down below some articles to download.
Here my updated conference contribution for downloading:
Pretty much the same article with a few corrections and added info pertaining to Bhutan has been published in May 2011 as 2009 (go figure) in Asian Medicine 5 (2009), p. 291–316
Furthermore, here for download a recently published PDF article on Cordyceps sinensis in somewhat a travelogue form with focus on Yartsa gunbu in Northwest Yunnan. Here the full reference:
Winkler, D. 2010. Cordyceps sinensis - A precious parasitic fungus infecting Tibet.
In: Field Mycology 11.2: 60-67.
Download
Winkler, D. 2008. The Mushrooming Fungi Market in Tibet Exemplified by Cordyceps sinensis and Tricholoma matsutake. Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies. 4: 1-46.
Download
A paper originally co-written with Karl Ryavec in 2000, published in 2009 as 2006 [sic!] dealing with Eastern Tibet's forests, forestry, the state logging industry and issues of sustainability or the lack thereof. While I wrote about all these issues Karl used remote sensing tools analyzing Landsat satellite images of clear-cuts in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan and provided mapping on the forest areas of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau:
Ryavec, K. & Winkler D. 2006. Logging Impacts to Forests in Tibetan Areas of Southwest China. A Case Study from Ganze Prefecture Based on 1998 Landsat TM Imagery. In: Himalaya - Journal of the Association for Nepal & Himalayan Studies 2006, vol. 26.1: 38-45,
Download
A more popular written paper on the morel industry in East Tibet with some nice pictures.
Winkler D. 2010. Morels in Eastern Tibet. Fungi 3.2: p.6-7.
Download
In general most of my articles can be found at my main web pages under Publications
I found my biggest caterpillar fungus ever in Xining!
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: International Cordyceps Conference Xining June 2010
Dear Daniel, I had a field day seeing your Cordyceps pictures and stories.
They are very informative!
I take this opportunity to inform you that one of our Bhutanese photographers managed to locate an uninfected caterpillar, and take a picture of it. You can see the picture at http://www.yesheydorji.blogspot.com/. Would love to hear your comments.
Warmest regards, Phuntsho Namgyel
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Thanks for the appreciation Phuntsho Namgyel!
Yeshi Dorji's picture of a larva is beautiful. I am not sure if it really is a ghost moth (Thitarodes sp.) larvae. Most larvae I have seen have been already taken over by Ophiocordyceps sinensis. And I have not seen a larva that had such a white body with a black "head' parasitized by O.s..
In Kongpo [Nyingchi / Linzhi Prefecture, SE Tibet AR, especially in Dungdor or Mainling (Menling), Nyingchi and Lang (Nang) Counties], there is a very white larva known as "bu karpo", Tibetan for "white worm" that gets infected by Ophiocordyceps.
I just saw some fresh ones for sale last week (July 23) during the summer MushRoaming tour in a village near Draktsum Tso / Basong Tso. They were very whitish and also it seemed very late in the season, but I was told it was typical for "bu karpo".
I plan to write more on it later.
Here a picture of small larva of a "regular" yartsa gunbu I dug up in 2006 at Kongpo Barla.
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Hi Daniel,
The caterpillar looks very transparent. The picture taken by Yeshey Dorji is yellow.
I have a question here, i couldn't find the information on the change in generic name to Ophiocordyceps for sinensis. May i know when the change in generic name has been suggested.
Cheers.
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