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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #355149
Research Project: Develop Pest Management Technologies and Strategies to Control the Coffee Berry Borer

Location: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory

Title: A mid-Cretaceous ambrosia fungus, Paleoambrosia entomophila gen. et sp. nov. (Ophiostomotales: Ophiostomataceae) in Burmese amber

Author
item POINAR, GEORGE - Oregon State University
item Vega, Fernando

Submitted to: Fungal Biology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2018
Publication Date: 12/1/2018
Citation: Poinar, G., Vega, F.E. 2018. A mid-Cretaceous ambrosia fungus, Paleoambrosia entomophila gen. et sp. nov. (Ophiostomotales: Ophiostomataceae) in Burmese amber. Fungal Biology. 122:1159-1162.

Interpretive Summary: Ambrosia beetle is the common name for wood-boring beetles that cultivate fungi as their food source. During a study involving an ambrosia beetle preserved in Burmese amber, we observed fungal structures next to the amber-preserved insect, as well as a cavity in the leg in which the fungus is presumed to be transported. This is the first record of a fossil ambrosia fungus, showing that this type of association between wood-boring beetles and fungi date back some 100 million years ago.

Technical Abstract: An ambrosia fungus is described from filamentous sporodochia adjacent to a wood-boring beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Platypodinae) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Yeast-like propagules and hyphal fragments of Paleoambrosia entomophila gen. et sp. nov. occur in glandular sac mycangia located inside the pro- and meso-tibia of the beetle. This is the first record of a fossil ambrosia fungus, showing that symbiotic associations between wood-boring insects and ectosymbiotic fungi date back some 100 million years ago.