''Rickia wasmannii'' is a species of the widely distributed entomoparasitic order of fungi

Laboulbeniales The Laboulbeniales is an order of fungi within the class Laboulbeniomycetes. They are also known by the colloquial name beetle hangers or labouls. The order includes around 2,325 species of obligate insect ectoparasites that produce cellular ...

. It is an obligatory ectoparasite of ants of the genus

Myrmica ''Myrmica'' is a genus of ants within the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is widespread throughout the temperate regions of the Holarctic realm, Holarctic and high mountains in Southeast Asia. The genus consists of around 200 known species and additio ...

. The

thalli Thallus (: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. A thallus usually names the entir ...

penetrate outer layer of the cuticle, and appear on the host body surface. Little is known about its effect on the host ant, but it is usually regarded as a rather neutral symbiont. Contrarily, however, a recent study has documented an increased need of drinking water and a shortened life-span of infected ants. The known host species of ''Rickia wasmannii'' are various ''Myrmica'' species, the most frequent being '' Myrmica scabrinodis''. The fungus was reported from many European countries such as Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In 2016, Pfiegler et al. showed that inquiline mites can become infected by ''R. wasmannii'', which was thought to be restricted to the genus ''

'' (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). This was the first report of ''R. wasmannii'' from an alternative host in another subphylum (

Chelicerata The subphylum Chelicerata (from Neo-Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. Chelicerates include the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, tic ...

). These authors also found immature fruiting bodies on a larva of ''Microdon myrmicae'' (Diptera: Syrphidae), which represents the first report of any '' Rickia'' species on flies. ''Rickia wasmannii'' is thus capable of infecting alternative, unrelated host species as they co-occur in the ant nest “microhabitat”. The authors commented that the presence of ''R. wasmannii'' on inquilines in ''Myrmica'' ant nests suggests that the parasite may have adapted to the ant nest environment and is less dependent on acquiring specific nutrients from the hosts. However, they mentioned that the alternative cannot be excluded; these infections might also represent chance events if the fungus is incapable of fulfilling its life cycle.

References

* Bezdĕčka P et al. (2011
First record of the myrmecophilous fungus Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales) in Slovakia
''Folia faunistica Slovaca'' 16(2): 71–72. * Cavara F (1899) Di una nuova Laboulbeniacea Ricka wasmannii. ''Malpighia'' 13: 173–187. * Csata E et al. (2013
Comprehensive survey of Romanian myrmecoparasitic fungi: new species, biology and distribution
''North-Western Journal of Zoology'' 9 (1): no. 131101. * Csata E et al. (2014
Effects of the ectoparasitic fungus Rickia wasmannii on its ant host Myrmica scabrinodis: changes in host mortality and behavior
''Insectes Sociaux''61: 247–252. * Haelewaters D (2012
The first record of Laboulbeniales (Fungi, Ascomycota) on Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in The Netherlands.
Ascomycete.org * Tartally A, Szücs B, Ebsen JR (2007) The first records of Rickia wasmannii CAVARA, 1899, a myrmecophilous fungus, and its Myrmica LATREILLE, 1804 host ants in Hungary and Romania (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales, Hymenoptera: Formicidae). ''Myrmecological News'' 10: 123. * Báthori, F., Csata, E. & Tartally, A. (2015): Rickia wasmannii increases the need for water in Myrmica scabrinodis (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales; Hymenoptera: Formicidae). – ''Journal of Invertebrate Pathology'' 126: 78–82. * Báthori, F., Pfliegler, W.P., Rádai, Z. & Tartally, A. (2018) Host age determines parasite load of Laboulbeniales fungi infecting ants: Implications for host-parasite relationship and fungal life history. – ''Mycoscience'' 59: 166–171. * Báthori, F., Pfliegler, W.P., Zimmerman, C.-U. & Tartally, A. (2017): Online image databases as multi-purpose resources: Rickia wasmannii Cavara (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) on a new host ant from a new country by screening AntWeb.org. – ''Journal of Hymenoptera Research'' 61: 85–94. * Báthori, F., Rádai, Z. & Tartally, A. (2017): The effect of Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) on the aggression and boldness of Myrmica scabrinodis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). – ''Journal of Hymenoptera Research'' 58: 41–52. * Haelewaters, D., Boer, P., Gort, G. & Noordijk, J. (2015): Studies of Laboulbeniales (Fungi, Ascomycota) on Myrmica ants (II): variation of infection by Rickia wasmannii over habitats and time. – ''Animal Biology'' 65(3–4): 219–231. * Haelewaters, D., Boer, P. & Noordijk, J. (2015): Studies of Laboulbeniales (Fungi: Ascomycota) on Myrmica ants: Rickia wasmannii in the Netherlands. – ''Journal of Hymenoptera Research'' 44: 39–47. * Markó, B., Csata, E. Erős, K. Német, E. Czekes, Zs. & Rózsa, L. (2016): Distribution of the myrmecoparasitic fungus Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) across colonies, individuals, and body parts of Myrmica scabrinodis. – ''Journal of Invertebrate Pathology'' 136: 74–80. * Pfliegler, W.P., Tálas, L., Báthori, F., Tartally, A., Pócsi, I. & Szemán-Nagy, G. (2016): Antifungal effect of silver nanoparticles on Rickia wasmannii Cavara (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) infecting Myrmica scabrinodis Nylander (Formicidae) ants. – ''Sociobiology'' 63(2): 851–854. Laboulbeniaceae Fungi described in 1899 Fungus species {{ascomycota-stub