Comprehensive survey of Romanian myrmecoparasitic fungi: new species, biology and distribution

Abstract

Several species of fungi exploit ants. Most of them are known from the tropics, where they may exhibit spectacular morphologies, and a handful of species are known to occur in Europe. Available data on their geographic range, host specificity and effect on the host is scarce and require acquisition. In addition, there is a significant geographic bias in the available data: mostly Western and Central European records are known. Herein, we provide an overview of the myrmecoparasitic fungal species from a hitherto barely explored country, Romania: Aegeritella superficialis Balazy et J. Wiśn. (1974), Myrmicinosporidium durum Holldobler, 1933, Pandora myrmecophaga (Turian et Wuest) S. Keller (2005) and Rickia wasmannii Cavara (1899) are presented. P. myrmecophaga is reported for the first time in Romania, and several new locations for R. wasmannii are given, and also a new host species for the fungus. General aspects of the biology of the four species, their distribution in Romania and their host range are presented.