Abstract
Escovopsis (Ascomycota: Hypocreales, Hypocreaceae) is the only known parasite of the mutualistic fungi cultivated by fungus-growing ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini: Attina, the “attines”). Despite its ecological role, the taxonomy and systematics of Escovopsis have been poorly addressed. Here, based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses with three molecular markers (internal transcribed spacer, large subunit ribosomal RNA and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha), we describe Escovopsisclavatus and E.multiformis as new species isolated from fungus gardens of Apterostigma ant species. Our analysis shows that E.clavatus and E.multiformis belong to the most derived Escovopsis clade, whose main character is the presence of conidiophores with vesicles. Nevertheless, the most outstanding feature of both new species is the presence of a swollen region in the central hypha of the conidiophore named swollen cell, which is absent in all previously described Escovopsis species. The less derived Escovopsis clades lack vesicles and their phylogenetic position within the Hypocreaceae still remains unclear. Considering the high genetic diversity in Escovopsis, the description of these new species adds barely two pieces to a huge taxonomic puzzle; however, this discovery is an important piece for building the systematics of this group of fungi.
Highlights
Microorganisms play important roles in the stability of social insect colonies (Hughes et al 2008, Joop and Vilcinskas 2016, Vanderpool et al 2018)
The attine ants have persisted for millions of years because of the biological relationships that these insects maintain with the beneficial microorganisms that inhabit their colonies
The discovery and description of new Escovopsis species is an important advance in understanding this system
Summary
Microorganisms play important roles in the stability of social insect colonies (Hughes et al 2008, Joop and Vilcinskas 2016, Vanderpool et al 2018). Leafcutter ants (Atta and Acromyrmex) are considered the most derived attines within the Neoattina Their behaviour is characterised by collecting fresh leaves and flowers to feed several cultivars from two clades of fungi in the Agaricaceae (Mueller et al 2017, 2018). Considering the variety of mutualistic fungi that non-leafcutter ants may cultivate, as well as the different substrates used for that purpose, a high diversity of Escovopsis species is unsurprising This is especially true for Apterostigma (Gerardo et al 2006b), a genus of non-leafcutter attine with species that cultivate different cultivars including Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, the domesticated fungus cultivated by many higher attine ant species, mostly leafcutter ants (Sosa-Calvo and Schultz 2010, Schultz et al 2015, Ješovnik et al 2016, Sosa-Calvo et al 2017, Mueller et al 2017, 2018). Considering that previous studies showed a high genetic diversity within Escovopsis, the description of these species adds two pieces to the enormous taxonomic puzzle which is Escovopsis
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