Escovopsis aspergilloides

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Escovopsis aspergilloides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Ascomycota
Class:
Sordariomycetes
Order:
Hypocreales
Family:
incertae sedis
Genus:
Escovopsis
Species:
E. aspergilloides
Binomial name
Escovopsis aspergilloides
Seifert, Samson & Chapela (1995)

Escovopsis aspergilloides is a species of fungus that was rediscovered in 1995 by mycologists Keith A. Seifert, Robert A. Samson and Ignacio Chapela. [1] [2] Escovopsis aspergilloides co-exist in a symbiotic relationship with attini ants - fungus-growing ants. The highly evolved, ancient ant-fungus mutualism has become a model system in the study of symbiosis. [3] In spite of this, the genus Escovopsis was not proposed until 1990 and the first two species were not formally described until the 1990s: E. weberi by Muchovej and Della Lucia in 1990 E. aspergilloides by Seifert, Samson and Chapela in 1995.

Contents

Discovery

E. aspergilloides was first discovered in 1893 by Alfred Moeller (Möller) in Blumenau on the island of Santa Catharina, Brazil - home of the German expatriate and naturalist, Fritz Müller - whose biography Moeller wrote. Alfred Moeller was undertaking a detailed study of local fungi for the Berlin Academy. His two-year field work in 1890 and 1891 resulted in his elaborate publication about attine ants and fungus entitled "The mushroom garden of some South American ants" about several fungus species in ant gardens. [1] : 407  [4]

Ant-fungus mutualism

There are 257 species of ants that constitute the tribe Attini. [5] These leaf-cutting ants and fungus survive in an ant–fungus mutualism [6] - an obligate symbiosis - in which neither can exist without the other. Ants grow the fungus - the basidiomycete cultivar - propagating it, nurturing and defending it - the fungus becomes almost their sole source of food. [7]

Rediscovery and taxonomy

In 1995 Seifert, Samson and Chapela isolated Escovopsis aspergilloides from nests of the Trachymyrmex ruthae - an ant species originally from Trinidad. [1] : 407 E. aspergilloides differs from other species in Escovopsis weberi by its "globose vesicles and narrow, ellipsoidal conidia." [1] : 412 

American entomologist and myrmecologist Neal A. Weber began publishing his research on ants in 1934 continued to investigate the relationship between ants and fungus gardens for 35 years. Little had been published in the twentieth century about the species Escovopsis and ant gardens prior to his 1966 article "Fungus-growing ants" in the journal Science . [8] [9] : xx  Weber pioneered culture methods needed to distinguish the different species of fungus harboured by ants. In 1972 H. Z. Kreisel recognized one of Moeller's unnamed anamorphic fungi in his own research on the leaf-cutting ant Atta insularis and described it as a new genus and species – Phialocladus zsoltii but did not formally describe the genus and the species. [10] In 1990 Muchovej and Della Lucia rediscovered the same fungus and – noting Kreisel's omission – renamed the genus Escovopsis and the species E. weberi in honour of Weber's work. [1] : 407  [11]

Three more species of Escovopsis were isolated from ant nests in Brazil by 2015, including Escovopsis moelleri , Escovopsis microspora and Escovopsis lentecrescens . [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Atta</i> (ant) Genus of ants

Atta is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains at least 17 known species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leafcutter ant</span> Any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants

Leafcutter ants, a non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genera Atta and Acromyrmex. These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States. Leafcutter ants can carry twenty times their body weight and cut and process fresh vegetation to serve as the nutritional substrate for their fungal cultivates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fungus-growing ants</span> Tribe of ants

Fungus-growing ants comprise all the known fungus-growing ant species participating in ant–fungus mutualism. They are known for cutting grasses and leaves, carrying them to their colonies' nests, and using them to grow fungus on which they later feed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ant–fungus mutualism</span> Symbiotic relationship

The ant–fungus mutualism is a symbiosis seen between certain ant and fungal species, in which ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm crops as a food source. There is only evidence of two instances in which this form of agriculture evolved in ants resulting in a dependence on fungi for food. These instances were the attine ants and some ants that are part of the Megalomyrmex genus. In some species, the ants and fungi are dependent on each other for survival. This type of codependency is prevalent among herbivores who rely on plant material for nutrition. The fungus’ ability to convert the plant material into a food source accessible to their host makes them the ideal partner. The leafcutter ant is a well-known example of this symbiosis. Leafcutter ants species can be found in southern South America up to the United States. However, ants are not the only ground-dwelling arthropods which have developed symbioses with fungi. A similar mutualism with fungi is also noted in termites within the subfamily Macrotermitinae which are widely distributed throughout the Old World tropics with the highest diversity in Africa.

<i>Acromyrmex</i> Genus of ants

Acromyrmex is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This genus is found in South America and parts of Central America and the Caribbean Islands, and contains 33 known species. Commonly known as "leafcutter ants" they comprise one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini, along with Atta.

<i>Mycocepurus smithii</i> Species of ant

Mycocepurus smithii is a species of fungus-growing ant from Latin America. This species is widely distributed geographically and can be found from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south, as well as on some Caribbean Islands. It lives in a variety of forested habitats and associated open areas. Two studies published in 2009 demonstrated that some populations of the species consist exclusively of females which reproduce via thelytokous parthenogenesis. A detailed study found evidence of sexual reproduction in some populations in the Brazilian Amazon. Accordingly, M. smithii consists of a mosaic of sexually and asexually reproducing populations. In asexual populations all ants in a single colony are female clones of the queen. Inside the colony, the ants cultivate a garden of fungus grown with pieces of dead vegetable matter, dead insects, and insect droppings.

Acromyrmex disciger is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini. It is found in the wild naturally in Paraguay.

Acromyrmex landolti is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

<i>Acromyrmex lobicornis</i> Species of ant

Acromyrmex lobicornis is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

Acromyrmex laticeps is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

Acromyrmex nobilis is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

<i>Acromyrmex rugosus</i> Species of ant

Acromyrmex rugosus is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

Acromyrmex pulvereus is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

Acromyrmex mesopotamicus is a species of leaf-cutter ant, a New World ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae of the genus Acromyrmex. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini.

<i>Cyphomyrmex</i> Genus of ants

Cyphomyrmex is a genus of fungus-growing ants found primarily in South and Central America. However, some species do come up to the southern portion of North America. They grow a variety of fungi in the tribe Leucocoprineae. Most fungal gardens are grown in small nodules, some species to cultivate entire mycelium, though. Colonies are monogynous and are relatively small with about 100 workers on average.

<i>Proatta</i> Genus of ants

Proatta is a Southeast Asian genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains the single species Proatta butteli, known from the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra.

Cyatta is a genus of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae containing the single species Cyatta abscondita. It is considered the most recent ancestor of all fungus-farming ants and a living fossil.

<i>Escovopsis</i> Genus of fungi

Escovopsis is a genus of seven formally acknowledged parasitic microfungus species that rely on other fungi to be their hosts. This genus formally circumscribed with a single identified species in 1990; in 2013 three other species were added.

<i>Attaphila</i> Genus of cockroaches that live as myrmecophiles in the nests of leaf-cutting ants

Attaphila is a genus of cockroaches that live as myrmecophiles in the nests of leaf-cutting ants. They have been suggested to feed on the fungus their host ants farm, or on the cuticular lipids of ant workers. Attaphila are not attacked by host workers because they blend into the colony by mimicking the odour of their hosts ants. Female Attaphila are wingless and males have reduced wings. The cockroaches are phoretic and can disperse to new host colonies by riding on virgin host queens departing on their mating flight and by hitchhiking on leaves carried by leaf-cutter ant foragers returning to their nests, or by following leaf-cutter ant pheromone trails

<i>Leucoagaricus gongylophorus</i> Species of fungus

Leucoagaricus gongylophorus is a fungus in the family Agaricaceae which is cultivated by certain leafcutter ants. Like other species of fungi cultivated by ants, L. gongylophorus produces gongylidia, nutrient-rich hyphal swellings upon which the ants feed. Production of mushrooms occurs only once ants abandon the nest. L. gongylophorus is farmed by leaf cutter ant species belonging to the genera Atta and Acromyrmex, amongst others.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Seifert, Keith A.; Samson, Robert A.; Chapela, Ignacio H. (1995). "Escovopsis aspergilloides, a Rediscovered Hyphomycete from Leaf-Cutting Ant Nests". Mycologia . Bronx, NY: The New York Botanical Garden. 87 (3): 407–413. doi:10.2307/3760838. JSTOR   3760838.
  2. ↑ "2011 Annual Checklist", Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, Reading, UK., 2011
  3. ↑ Cameron R. Currie; James A. Scott; Richard C. Summerbell; David Malloch (April 22, 1999), "Fungus-growing ants use antibiotic-producing bacteria to control garden parasites", Nature, Letters to Nature, 398 (6729): 701–704, Bibcode:1999Natur.398..701C, doi:10.1038/19519, S2CID   4411217
  4. ↑ Moeller, A. (1893), "The mushroom garden of some South American ants", Bott. Mitt. Trap., 6 (l)
  5. ↑ Lucas A. Meirelles, Quimi V. Montoya, Scott E. Solomon, and Andre Rodrigues New Light on the Systematics of Fungi Associated with Attine Ant Gardens and the Description of Escovopsis kreiselii sp. nov. PLoS One. 2015; 10(1): e0112067
  6. ↑ B. Hölldobler; E.O. Wilson (1990). The Ants . Cambridge MA: Belknap. ISBN   0-674-48525-4.
  7. ↑ I.H. Chapela; S.A. Rehner; T.R. Schultz; U.G. Mueller (9 Dec 1994). "Evolutionary history of the symbiosis between fungus-growing ants and their fungi". Science . 266 (5191): 1691–1694. Bibcode:1994Sci...266.1691C. doi:10.1126/science.266.5191.1691. PMID   17775630. S2CID   22831839.
  8. ↑ Weber, Neal A. (August 5, 1966). "Fungus-growing ants". Science. 153 (3736): 587–604. Bibcode:1966Sci...153..587W. doi:10.1126/science.153.3736.587. PMID   17757227. S2CID   31919824.
  9. ↑ Weber, Neal A. (1972), "Gardening Ants, the Attines", Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 92: 146
  10. ↑ Fungi from fungus gardens of Atta insularis in Cuba. Kreisel H Z Allg Mikrobiol. 1972; 12(8):643–654
  11. ↑ Muchovej, JJ; Della Lucia, TMC (1990). "Escovopsis, a new genus from leaf-cutting ant nests to replace Phialocladus nomen invalidum". Mycotaxon. 37: 191–195.
  12. ↑ Masiulionis, V. E.; et al. (2015). "Escovopsis trichodermoides sp nov., isolated from a nest of the lower attine ant Mycocepurus goeldii". Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 107 (3): 731–740. doi:10.1007/s10482-014-0367-1. PMID   25576160. S2CID   10353907.
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