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Ant–fungus Mutualism
Ant–fungus mutualism is a symbiosis seen between certain ant and fungal species, in which ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm crops as a food source. There is only evidence of two instances in which this form of agriculture evolved in ants resulting in a dependence on fungi for food. These instances were the attine ants and some ants that are part of the '' Megalomyrmex'' genus. In some species, the ants and fungi are dependent on each other for survival. This type of codependency is prevalent among herbivores who rely on plant material for nutrition. The fungus’ ability to convert the plant material into a food source accessible to their host makes them the ideal partner. The leafcutter ant is a well-known example of this symbiosis. Leafcutter ants species can be found in southern South America up to the United States. However, ants are not the only ground-dwelling arthropods which have developed symbioses with fungi. A similar mutualism with fungi is also not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atta Colombica Queen
Atta or ATTA may refer to: * ''Atta'' (ant), a genus of ants * ''Atta'' (novel), a 1953 novel by Francis Rufus Bellamy * Atta flour, whole wheat flour made from durum wheat commonly used in South Asian cooking * Atta (Buddhism) or Ātman, Pali for "self" or "soul", central to the core Buddhist concept of Anatta, no-self * Atta, Jalandhar, a village in India * ''Átta'', a 2023 album by Sigur Rós * A group of Lumad peoples * Princess Atta, a character from the Disney and Pixar film ''A Bug's Life''\ * Ata (name), people with the first name or family name, sometimes spelled ''Atta'' ** Mohamed Atta (1968–2001), ringleader of the September 11 terrorist attacks. See also * ATA (other) * Atman (other) * Attar (other) Attar or Attoor () is an essential oil or perfume. Attar or Attoor may also refer to: Places *Attar railway station, in Madhya Pradesh, India *Istgah-e Attar, or Attar, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran *Attoor (Kanya Kumari) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Ant
A queen ant (also known as a gyne) is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; she is usually the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants, such as the '' Cataglyphis'', do not need to mate to produce offspring, reproducing through asexual parthenogenesis or cloning, and all of those offspring will be female. Others, like those in the genus ''Crematogaster'', mate in a nuptial flight. Queen offspring ants among most species develop from larvae specially fed in order to become sexually mature. Depending on the species, there can be either a single mother queen, or potentially hundreds of fertile queens. Not every colony of ants has a queen. Some colonies have multiple queens. Queen ants are the only members of a colony to lay eggs. After mating, they can produce thousands, sometimes millions, of eggs during their lifetime. A queen of '' Lasius niger'' was held in captivity by German entomologist Hermann Appel for 28 years; also a ''Pogonomyrmex ow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escovopsis
''Escovopsis'' is a genus of seven formally acknowledged parasitic microfungus species that rely on other fungi to be their hosts. This genus formally circumscribed with a single identified species in 1990; in 2013 three other species were added. In an early 2015 published study, scientists collected five species of ''Escovopsis'' from both genera of fungus-growing ants, '' Atta'' and '' Acromyrmex'', four of which came from ant colonies in Brazil and the fifth of which came from Trinidad. These ''Escovopsis'' species included '' E. moelleri'', '' E. microspora'', '' E. weberi'', '' E. lentecrescens'', and '' E. aspergilloides''. The research revealed another ''Escovopsis'' species ('' E. trichodermoides'') isolated and derived from the lower attine ant, '' Mycocepurus goeldii''. It was determined to be a species independent of the other five species because of its complex branch system and varying conidiophores, which lack typical swelling. A se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner's Dilemma
The prisoner's dilemma is a game theory thought experiment involving two rational agents, each of whom can either cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual gain. The dilemma arises from the fact that while defecting is rational for each agent, cooperation yields a higher payoff for each. The puzzle was designed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher in 1950 during their work at the RAND Corporation. They invited economist Armen Alchian and mathematician John Williams to play a hundred rounds of the game, observing that Alchian and Williams often chose to cooperate. When asked about the results, John_Forbes_Nash_Jr., John Nash remarked that rational behavior in the Prisoner's dilemma#The_iterated_prisoner's_dilemma, iterated version of the game can differ from that in a single-round version. This insight anticipated a Folk_theorem_(game_theory), key result in game theory: cooperation can emerge in repeated interactions, even in situations where it i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leucoagaricus Gongylophorus
''Leucocoprinus gongylophorus'' is a fungus in the family Agaricaceae which is cultivated by certain leafcutter ants. Like other species of fungi cultivated by ants, ''L. gongylophorus'' produces gongylidia, nutrient-rich hyphal swellings upon which the ants feed. Production of mushrooms occurs only once ants abandon the nest. ''L. gongylophorus'' is farmed by leaf cutter ant species belonging to the genera ''Atta'' and '' Acromyrmex'', amongst others. Description ''L. gongylophorus'' is completely dependent on ants for survival with workers feeding it cut plant matter and new queens carrying a piece of mycelium in their infrabuccal pocket (a specialised structure within the mouth) in order to found a new colony. For both its source of nutrition and mechanism of spreading it is reliant on the ants. The species has co-evolved with ants so thoroughly that it can no longer rely upon producing mushrooms to emit spores as a viable survival mechanism as it has lost th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Propagule
In biology, a propagule is any material that functions in propagating an organism to the next stage in its life cycle, such as by dispersal. The propagule is usually distinct in form from the parent organism. Propagules are produced by organisms such as plants (in the form of seeds or spores), fungi (in the form of spores), and bacteria (for example endospores or microbial cysts). In disease biology, pathogens are said to generate infectious propagules, the units that transmit a disease. These can refer to bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protists, and can be contained within host material. For instance, for influenza, the infectious propagules are carried in droplets of host saliva or mucus that are expelled during coughing or sneezing. In horticulture, a propagule is any plant material used for the purpose of plant propagation. In asexual reproduction, a propagule is often a stem cutting. In some plants, a leaf section or a portion of root can be used. In sexual reprodu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gongylidia
Gongylidia (singular gongylidium) are hyphal swellings of fungus cultivated by higher-attine genera of fungus-growing ants. This fungus no longer exists naturally outside the ant colonies. Developing larvae feed on the gongylidia and distributed throughout the colony to feed workers, soldiers, and the queen. They are ellipsoid, about 30–50 micrometres in diameter, rich in lipids and carbohydrates derived from the leaves, and are produced in clusters (called staphylae). See also * Pearl body * Leucoagaricus gongylophorus References Fungal morphology and anatomy Myrmecology {{Ant-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lepiotaceae
The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was published by French botanist François Fulgis Chevallier in 1826. It is named after the type genus ''Agaricus'', originally circumscribed by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work ''Species Plantarum''. In his authoritative 1986 classification of the Agaricales, Rolf Singer divided the Agaricaceae into four tribes distinguished largely by spore color: ''Leucocoprineae'', ''Agariceae'', ''Lepioteae'', and ''Cystodermateae''. Genera once classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Battarreaceae, Lycoperdaceae, and Mycenastraceae have since been moved to the Agaricaceae based on molecular phylogenetics studies. According to a standard reference text, the Agaricaceae contains 85 genera and 1340 species. Description Agaricaceae species use a wide variety of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyphomyrmex
''Cyphomyrmex'' is a genus of fungus-growing ants found primarily in South and Central America. However, some species do come up to the southern portion of North America. They grow a variety of fungi in the tribe Leucocoprineae. Most fungal gardens are grown in small nodules, some species to cultivate entire mycelium, though. Colonies are monogynous and are relatively small with about 100 workers on average. Taxonomy This genus is within the subfamily ''Myrmicinae'' and the tribe '' Attini''. ''Cyphomyrmex'' is a more basal part of this phylogenetic relationship. With more recent phylogenetic studies, more derived genera are placed ahead of this genus, now making it sister to the genus ''Mycetophylax''. The fungi that are grown by attine ants, like ''Cyphomyrmex'', follow similar diversification as their ant cultivators. Also, chemicals used throughout the attine ants are derived from one another. So, those used by ''Cyphomyrmex'' provided a base plan for more complex mixtures ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leucocoprinus
''Leucocoprinus'' is a genus of fungi in the family Agaricaceae. Its best-known member is the distinctive yellow mushroom ''Leucocoprinus birnbaumii'', which is found in plant pots and greenhouses worldwide. The type species is ''Leucocoprinus cepistipes''. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains over 80 recognised species, however many of these species are very scarcely recorded and little known with only a small number of ''Leucocoprinus'' species which are commonly observed. The majority of the species in this genus are exclusive to tropical environments however numerous species have become a common sight in plant pots and greenhouses resulting in them becoming well known worldwide. Taxonomy The genus was created in 1888 by the French mycologist Narcisse Théophile Patouillard. Due to the superficially similar features which many ''Leucocoprinus'', ''Leucoagaricus'' and ''Lepiota'' species have these genera and the species within them have been subject to a grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
