The Strepsiptera are an order of insects with eleven extant families that include about 600 described species. They are endoparasites of other insects, such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. Females of most species never emerge from the host after entering its body, finally dying inside it. The early-stage larvae do emerge because they must find an unoccupied living host, and the short-lived males must emerge to seek a receptive female in her host. They are believed to be most closely related to beetles, from which they diverged 300–350 million years ago, but do not appear in the fossil record until the mid-Cretaceous around 100 million years ago.
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism, distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes the strategy close to predation.
Ophiocordyceps sinensis, known colloquially as caterpillar fungus, is an entomopathogenic fungus in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. It is mainly found in the meadows above 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) on the Tibetan Plateau in Tibet and the Himalayan regions of Bhutan, India, and Nepal. It parasitizes larvae of ghost moths and produces a fruiting body which is valued in traditional Chinese medicine as an aphrodisiac. Caterpillar fungus contains the compound cordycepin, an adenosine derivative. However, the fruiting bodies harvested in nature usually contain high amounts of arsenic and other heavy metals, so they are potentially toxic and sales have been strictly regulated by China's State Administration for Market Regulation since 2016.
The Eucharitidae are a family of parasitic wasps. Eucharitid wasps are members of the superfamily Chalcidoidea and consist of four subfamilies: Akapalinae, Eucharitinae, Gollumiellinae, and Oraseminae. Most of the 42 genera and >400 species of Eucharitidae are members of the subfamilies Oraseminae and Eucharitinae, and are found in tropical regions of the world.
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as zombie-ant fungus, is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, Zombie ants, infected by the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus, are predominantly found in tropical rainforests.
Ophiocordyceps is a genus of fungi within the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. The widespread genus, first described scientifically by British mycologist Tom Petch in 1931, contains about 140 species that grow on insects. Anamorphic genera that correspond with Ophiocordyceps species are Hirsutella, Hymenostilbe, Isaria, Paraisaria, and Syngliocladium.
Podonectria is a genus in the monotypic Podonectriaceae family of fungi. They are parasitic fungus on scale insects, other fungi, or on substrates that had previously colonized by other fungi.
Paleomycology is the study of fossil fungi. Paleomycology is considered a subdiscipline of paleobotany, centered on mushrooms, fungal spores, and hyphae preserved in sediment layers and rock. Fungi have been found in the palaeoecological record as far back as the Paleozoic era, with evidence of influencing the evolutionary processes of early flowering plants.
Mycetophagites is an extinct fungal genus of mycoparasitic in the order Hypocreales. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Mycetophagites atrebora.
Entropezites is an extinct monotypic genus of hypermycoparasitic fungus in the order Hypocreales. At present it contains the single species Entropezites patricii.
Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani is a species of fungus that parasitizes insect hosts of the order Hymenoptera, primarily ants. It was first isolated from Viçosa, Minas Gerais, on Camponotus balzani. This species was formerly thought to be Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which has subsequently been divided into four species. O. camponoti-balzani infects ants, and eventually kills the hosts after they move to an ideal location for the fungus to spread its spores. This has earned the species names such as “zombie fungus”, given the fungus has been observed to cause its hosts to bite hard into the substrate it stands on, so that the fungus can then stably grow.
Ophiocordyceps nutans is an entomopathogenic fungus belonging to the order Hypocreales (Ascomycota) in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. O. nutans only parasitizes Hemipterans, namely stinkbugs. In Korea, O. nutans is one of the most common species of Cordyceps. O. nutans, as well as other Cordyceps species, are mainly classified morphologically by their colour, fruit body shape, and host insect species. Stinkbugs cause considerable damage to agriculture and forestry, and the anamorph of O. nutans, Hymenostilbe nutans, is a potential selective biological control agent against the stinkbugs.
Ophiocordyceps myrmecophila, commonly known as the ant fungus or ant eater, is a species of fungus that parasitizes insect hosts, in particular members of the order Hymenoptera.
Ophiocordyceps macroacicularis is an entomopathogenic fungus belonging to the order Hypocreales (Ascomycota) in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae, which parasitize moth larvae. It produces superficial, oval perithecia at the apex of its stroma, and also multiseptate ascospores, while producing Hirsutella-type anamorphs on growth culture media. They are particularly distinguished by the size and shape of their stromata.
Ophiocordyceps coenomyia is an entomopathogenic fungus belonging to the order Hypocreales (Ascomycota) in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. It is parasitic to awl-fly larvae. This species is characterized by a globose, alutaceous fertile part at the apex of its light yellow stroma, its immersed perithecia, and ascospores dividing in turn into partspores. The species is closely related to O. heteropoda.
Ophiocordyceps camponoti-novogranadensis is a species of fungus that parasitizes insect hosts, in particular members of the order Hymenoptera. It was first isolated from Parque Estadual de Itacolomi in Ouro Preto, at an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), on Camponotus novogranadensis.
Ophiocordyceps camponoti-melanotici is a species of fungus that parasitizes insect hosts, in particular members of the order Hymenoptera. It was first isolated from Viçosa, Minas Gerais, on Camponotus melanoticus.
Ophiocordyceps camponoti-rufipedis is a species of fungus that parasitizes insect hosts, in particular members of the order Hymenoptera. It was first isolated from Viçosa, Minas Gerais, at an altitude of 700 metres (2,300 ft) on Camponotus rufipes.
Ophiocordyceps formicarum is an entomopathogenic fungus belonging to the order Hypocreales (Ascomycota) in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. The fungus was first described by mycologist George S. Kobayashi in 1939 as a species of Cordyceps. Originally found in Japan growing on an adult Hercules ant, it was reported from Guizhou, China, in 2003. It was transferred to the new genus Ophiocordyceps in 2007 when the family Cordycipitaceae was reorganized. A technique has been developed to grow the fungus in an agar growth medium supplemented with yeast extract, inosine, and glucose.
Paleoophiocordyceps coccophagus is an extinct parasitic fungus in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae from Cretaceous-aged Burmese amber. P. coccophagus' morphology is very similar to the species of Ophiocordyceps. The only known specimen consists of two whip-like fruiting bodies emerging from the head of a male scale insect of an undescribed species very similar to the extinct species Albicoccus dimai.
