crassiusculus
The term mycangium (pl., mycangia) is used in biology for special structures on the body of an animal that are adapted for the transport of symbiotic fungi (usually in spore form). This is seen in many xylophagous insects (e.g. horntails and bark beetles), which apparently derive much of their nutrition from the digestion of various fungi that are growing amidst the wood fibers. In some cases, as in ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae), the fungi are the sole food, and the excavations in the wood are simply to make a suitable microenvironment for the fungus to grow. In other cases (e.g., the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis), wood tissue is the main food, and fungi weaken the defense response from the host plant.[1]
Some species of phoretic mites that ride on the beetles, have their own type of mycangium, but for historical reasons, mite taxonomists use the term acarinarium. Apart from riding on the beetles, the mites live together with them in their burrows in the wood.[2][3]
- ^ Paine, T. D.; Stephen, F. M. (1987-01-01). "Fungi Associated with the Southern Pine Beetle: Avoidance of Induced Defense Response in Loblolly Pine". Oecologia. 74 (3): 377–379. Bibcode:1987Oecol..74..377P. doi:10.1007/bf00378933. JSTOR 4218483. PMID 28312476. S2CID 20763037.
- ^ Francke-Grossmann H. (1967). Ectosymbiosis in wood inhabiting insects. In: M. Henry (ed.) Symbiosis, Vol. 2. Academic Press, New York. pp.141-205.
- ^ Mori, Boyd A.; Proctor, Heather C.; Walter, David E.; Evenden, Maya L. (2011-02-01). "Phoretic mite associates of mountain pine beetle at the leading edge of an infestation in northwestern Alberta, Canada". The Canadian Entomologist. 143 (1): 44–55. doi:10.4039/n10-043. ISSN 1918-3240. S2CID 86284129.