Ambrosia fungi

Fungal symbionts of ambrosia beetles that live in mycangia within the bodies of their beetle hosts, mostly Scolytinae. The fungi serve as nutrients and are dependent on the beetles for transport. These fungi are not known in other habitats.

Fungus cultivation by ambrosia beetles is one of the four independently evolved cases of agriculture known in animals.

REFERENCES

Batra, L.R. 1967. Ambrosia fungi: A taxonomic revision, and nutritional studies of some specie. Mycologia 59: 976-1017.

Biedermann, P.H.W., Klepzig, K.D. and Taborsky, M. 2009. Fungus cultivation by ambrosia beetles: behavior and laboratory breeding success in three Xyleborine species. Environmental Entomology 38: 1096-1105.

Henriques, J., Inácio, M. de L. and Sousa, E. 2006. Ambrosia fungi in the insect-fungi symbiosis in relation to cork oak decline. Revista Iberoamericana de Micología 23: 185-188.

Hulcr, J. and Stelinski , L.L. 2017. The ambrosia symbiosis: from evolutionary ecology to practical management. Annual Review of Entomology 62: 285-303.