About 100 species of Cordyceps are known. Most of them are parasitic on insects, a few on spider, and other on the subterranean ascomata of Elaphomyces. The most common species of Cordyceps are C. militaris on several genera of Lepidoptera and hymenoptera, and C. candensis and C. phioglossoides parasitic on Elaphomyces spp. Cordyceps is known to produce an antibiotic, cordycepin.
