Butll. Inst . Cat. Hist. Nat., 54 (Sec. Bot., 6): 31-35. 1987

AEGERITELLA SUPERFICIALIS BAt. ET WIS . AND A . TUBERCULATA

BAL. ET WIS. (DEUTEROMYCETES ), EPIZOIC FUNGI ON TWO FORMICA

(HYMENOPTERA : FORMICIDAE ) SPECIES IN THE IBERIAN

PENINSULA

Xavier Espadaler i Jerzy Wisniewski **Rebut: juliol 1986

RESUMAegeritella superficialis Bat. et Wig . i A. tuberculata Bat. et Wis. (Deuteromycetes ), fongs

epizoics de dues especies de Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la peninsula Ibe-

rica.

Aegeritella superficialis Bat. et Wig. i A. tuberculata Bat. et Wis., fongs epizoics,

s'han trobat en dues especies de formigues, Formica decipiens Bondr. i F. pressilabris Nyl.,

respectivament. Ambdues formigues son hostes nous per als fongs, i aquests representen

dues noves addicions a la micoflora iberica. Els bulbil•les abunden mes cap a la part dis-

tal del cos de les formigues (gaster, tercer parell de potes), el que suggereix un paper ac-

tiu, per autocondicia i aliocondicia, de les formigues en la distribucio del fong en el

seu cos.

SUMMARYAegeritella superficialis Bat. et Wis. and A. tuberculata Bat•. et Wis., epizoic fungi

on Formica decipiens Bondr . and F. pressilabris Nyl., are new records for the Iberian Pe-

ninsula; both ant species are new hosts for the fungi. Bulbils are more abundant at the rear

of the body suggesting that ants partially control the spread of the fungus over its body

by auto and allogrooming.

The genus Aegeritella and the speciesA. sitperficialis were erected by Batazyand Wisniewski (1974) to describe an epi-zoic fungus found on several species ofFormica ants in Poland; a second spe-cies, A. letikoi, was described from a Bra-zilian Canipoiiotus sericeiventris (Guerin)

(BAtAZY & W1SNIEWSKt, 1977), a third one,

A. tuberculata, from Lasius flavus (Fab.)

and Formica fusca L. also from Poland,

and very recently (BA.LAZY et al., 1986), a

fourth one, A. roussillonensis on Catagly-

phis cursor (Fonscolombe) in Southern

France.

* Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegctal i Ecologia. Laboratori de Zoologia. Facultat de

Cicncics. Universitat Autonoma. 08193 Bellaterra. Barcelona. Spain.** Forest and Environment Protection. Academy of Agriculture. U1. Wojska Polskicgo 71 C. 60-625

Poznan. Poland.

31

1. Present kno%vleclgc of .1cgc'rilclla species %vith its hosts and eounti\ vvhrrc found.(Reference in brackets.)I.slat actual del cuncixetncnt dc Ics espccics d'Argcrilrllu, amb cis hostcs i pals. iRClcrrnMt cnuc parcnlesi.)

A. sllperflclalls A. lenk ol

A. Iuber-cldala

A. rolssll-1011ensls

Formica rufa L. Poland (2, 9, 12)Switzerland (6)

F. polyctena Forst. Poland (2, 9, 12)Switzerland (6)Federal Rep. Germany (11)

F. pratensis Retz. Poland (2, 9, 12)

F. truncorum Fabr. Poland (2, 9, 12)

F. lugubris Zett. Italy (10)Switzerland (6)

F. sanguinea Latr. Switzerland (6)Poland (12)

F. fusca L. Poland (2) Poland (4)

F. decipiens Bondr. Spain

F. pressilabris Nyl. Spain

Lasius flavus (Fab.) Poland (4)

C'alnponotus sericeiventris(Guerin) Brazil (3)

Calaglyphis cursor(Fonscolombe) France (1)

Here we report the presence of A. super-ficialis and A. tuberculate on two speciesof Formica; the present knowledge of geo-graphical and host distribution is summa-rized in table 1. Until now only membersofd the subfamily Formicinae are known ashosts to Aegeritella species. The new Ibe-rian localities are the following:

Aegeritella superficialis Bat. et Wis.1974. On Formica decipiens Bondr. LaCastanya, Montseny (Barcelona), 5-VII-79.

Nest under stone near a field path at850 m; UTM 31TDG4626. Two infectedworkers.

Aegeritella lubcrculala Bat. et Wis. 1982.On Formica pressilabris Nvl. Aiguanu)ix(Llcida), 8-VI-1975. Dome nest of grass lit-ter in a meadow at 1.850 m, outside a woodof Pinus nlugo. UTM 31TCH3025. 34 in-fected workers (figs. 1, 2).Both ant species are new hosts to their

respective fungi.

Fin. 1. SEM photography of bulbils (4) of Aegeritella luberculata Bat. el Wis. on Formica pressila-bris Nyl. from Aiguamoix (Llcida, Spain).BulbitIcs (4) d'Acgcritella tuberculula Bat. et Wis. damunt Formica pressilabris Nyl. d'Aiguantoix (Llcida, Fspanya).

FIG. 2. SEM photography of a bulbil of Aegeritella luberculata Bat. et Wi4. on Formica pressila-bris Nyl.Bulbillcs d'Aegerilella luberculata Bad'. ct Wis. damunt Furrnica pressilabris NO.

32

33

There is scarce knowledge of the biolo-gy of Aegeritella species; spatial distribu-tion of infected ant nests seems to beunrelated to phytosociological communi-ties and uniform (W1SNirvvsKI, 1976); thepercentage of infected ant nests variesfrom 35,7 0 (W1< 1rwsKI, 1976) to 0,3 0(C1{ERIx, 1982), varying according to For-mica species and sites. We studied 141Formica samples from the Pyrenees andonly 1 (0,71)o) was found to be infected;34 out of 64 workers in the sample (53 %)of F. pressilabris were infected; this agre-es with data from W1sNurwSK1 & SoKO-.#-o\V'SKY (1983) for A. stiperficialis that arewithin the range of 1,5 to 66,6 °o on infec-ted workers in different nests of 4 For-mica species. The number of bulbils maybe as high as one hundred per worker(CiiiRIX-, 1982); from the detailed studyof the number and situation of bulbils inone case (table II, fig. 3) it can be seenthat the gaster and legs are more heavilyattacked; this agrees with previous re-ports of the head being the less affectedportion (WISNIEvwSKI, 1977; Bvi zv & Wls-NnAVsKi, 1982) while the thorax is inter-mediate. We can find no apparent reasonfor this distal trend unless we assume thatbecause of auto and allogrooming of thehead -eyes, mouthparts, antennae are ofvital importance- there is a lower levelof infection, since it is to be expected thatsmall, growing thalli are easier to elimi-nate than full grown ones. Ants wouldplay an active, but partial, role in contro-

TABLE II. Number and situation of Aegerite-lla tuberculata Bat. et Wig. bulbils amongworkers (n=34) of Formica pressilabris Nyl.from Aiguamoix (Llcida, Spain).Numbrc i localitraci,i del- hulbi4les d'Acl;eritell(1 tuber-,uluua Bat. et Wj.i. al, individus (n=34) de Formica pres-,ilahri, Nsl. d'Airuamois Il.lcida, Espanva).

Mean number(range)

Head 0,5 (0-5)Thorax 0,8 (0-4)Caster 2,6 (0-13)1st leg 0,5 (0-3)2nd leg 0,6 (0-3)3rd leg 1,5 (0-6)

Total 6,6 (1-24)

BuIbiIsmainly on

back of headupper surfacewhole gasterfemurfemur, tibiafenu r, tibia

L90

Leo

L70

X60

L50

.40

L30

-20

L10

2 4 6

Fu:. 3. Cumulative number of bulbils of Aegeri-tella tuber-culata Bat. ct Wis., found on head (1),thorax (2), gaster (3), first (4), second (5) andthird (6) legs in the 34 workers of Formica pres-silabris NNI.Nombre acumulat de bulbittrs d'Aeperitella super!icialisBat. el Wis. al cap (1), bias (2), glister (3), primer (4),segos (5) i tcrcer (6) parell de pules ats 34 individus deFormica pressilabris NO.

fling the spread of the fungus over its bo-dies.

Since the contact of the fungus withthe insect cuticle is superficial, its para-sitic nature remains unclear (BA-AZY &WlsNiLwvsK1, 1982); whichever way thislast point is resolved, Acgcritella speciesseem to have successfully broken the che-mical defence provided by the manyglands present in ants, that have beenshown to secrete antibiotic or inhibitorysubstances against several bacteria, fungior even pollen (HOLLnoBLE & ENGEL-SIGEL, 1984; BEATTIE, 1985) and thus joiningLaboulbeniales as the other major groupof externally parasitic fungi on ants (T.-\ARES, 1985).

34

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Dr . Stanislaw Balazy ( ForestResearch Laboratory , Polish Academy ofSciences, Poznan ) for the determinationof the fungi , Onofre Castcll for his assis-tance during the SEM work and E. Des-cals for his botanical comments and forimproving the English text. This work hasbeen partially supported by a grant fromCAICYT ( 1366/82).

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