Escovopsis Aspergilloides

''Escovopsis aspergilloides'' is a species of fungus that was rediscovered in 1995 by mycologists Keith A. Seifert, Robert A. Samson and Ignacio Chapela. Escovopsis aspergilloides co-exist in a symbiotic relationship with attini ants - fungus-growing ants. The highly evolved, ancient ant-fungus mutualism has become a model system in the study of symbiosis. In spite of this, the genus ''Escovopsis'' was not proposed until 1990 and the first two species were not formally described until the 1990s: ''E. weberi'' by Muchovej and Della Lucia in 1990 ''E. aspergilloides'' by Seifert, Samson and Chapela in 1995.

Discovery

''E. aspergilloides'' was first discovered in 1893 by Alfred Moeller (Möller) in Blumenau on the island of Santa Catharina, Brazil - home of the German expatriate and naturalist, Fritz Müller - whose biography Moeller wrote. Alfred Moeller was undertaking a detailed study of local fungi for the Berlin Academy. His two-year field work in 1890 and 1891 resulted in his elaborate publication about attine ants and fungus entitled "The mushroom garden of some South American ants" about several fungus species in ant gardens.

Ant-fungus mutualism

There are 257 species of ants that constitute the tribe Attini. These leaf-cutting ants and fungus survive in an ant–fungus mutualism - an obligate symbiosis - in which neither can exist without the other. Ants grow the fungus - the basidiomycete cultivar - propagating it, nurturing and defending it - the fungus becomes almost their sole source of food.

Rediscovery and taxonomy

In 1995 Seifert, Samson and Chapela isolated ''Escovopsis aspergilloides'' from nests of the '' Trachymyrmex ruthae'' - an ant species originally from Trinidad. ''E. aspergilloides'' differs from other species in ''Escovopsis weberi'' by its "globose vesicles and narrow, ellipsoidal conidia."

American entomologist and myrmecologistbr>Neal A. Weber
began publishing his research on ants in 1934 continued to investigate the relationship between ants and fungus gardens for 35 years. Little had been published in the twentieth century about the species ''Escovopsis'' and ant gardens prior to his 1966 article "Fungus-growing ants" in the journal ''Science''. Weber pioneered culture methods needed to distinguish the different species of fungus harboured by ants. In 1972 H. Z. Kreisel recognized one of Moeller's unnamed anamorphic fungi in his own research on the leaf-cutting ant ''Atta insularis'' and described it as a new genus and species – ''Phialocladus zsoltii'' but did not formally describe the genus and the species.Fungi from fungus gardens of ''Atta insularis'' in Cuba. Kreisel H Z Allg Mikrobiol. 1972; 12(8):643–654 In 1990 Muchovej and Della Lucia rediscovered the same fungus and – noting Kreisel's omission – renamed the genus ''Escovopsis'' and the species ''E. weberi'' in honour of Weber's work.

Three more species of ''Escovopsis'' were isolated from ant nests in Brazil by 2015, including ''Escovopsis moelleri'', ''Escovopsis microspora'' and ''Escovopsis lentecrescens''.

See also

* Aspergillosis

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10489037

Fungi described in 1995
Enigmatic Hypocreales taxa
Fungus species