Additional records of Ierian parasitic insect fungi : Laboulbeniales (Ascomycotina) and Aegeritella (Deuteromycotina)

Orsis, 4: 145-1 49 (1 989) Additional records of Iberian parasitic insect fungi: Laboulbeniales (Ascomycotina) and Aegeritella (Deuteromycotina) Xavier ~spadaler' and David suñer2 Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia. Universitat Autbnoma de Barcelona. 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona). Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i dlEcologia. Col.legi Universitari de Girona(UAB). 17071 Girona. Key words: Aegeritella, Herpomyces, insect fungi, Rickia, Spain Abstract. The genus Herpomyces Thaxter, with H. periplanetae Thaxter and H. ectobiae Thaxter, is added to the iberian Laboulbeniales. The ant Myrmica specioides Bondr. is a new host for Rickia wasmannii Cavara. The ants Lasius urnbratus (Nyl.) and Lasius distringuendus Emery are new hosts for Deuteromycotina Aegeritella tuberculata Bal. et Wis. Resumen. Citas adicionales de hongos parásitos ibéricos: Laboulbeniales (Ascornycotina) y Aegeritella (Deuteromycotina). Añadimos el género Herpomyces Thaxter, con las especies H. periplanetae Thaxter y H. ectobiae Thaxter al catálogo de Laboulbeniales ibéricas. Otros datos, referentes a Rickia wasmannii Cavara, incluyen un huésped inédito, Myrrnica specioides Bomdr. Las hormigas Lasius umbratus (Ngl.) y Lasius distinguendus Ernery han sido encontradas parasitadas por Aegeritella tuberculata Bal. et Wis. (Deuterornycotina). Introduction A short visit to the University of Alicante provided the opportunity to examine some preserved insects, in search of Laboulbeniales. Just one cockroach could be inspected and we were lucky enough to find it parasitized with a Laboulbenial. This, in tum, lead to further searching on any available cockroach, and the finding of another species, also unknown for the Iberian peninsula. Some more records of Laboulbeniales from the last three years are added to this note. We report also two findings of Aegeritella, a poorly known genus of epizoic Deuteromycotina on ants. Ascomycotina O. Laboulbeniales. SubO. Herpomycetineae. Fam. Herpomycetaceae. 146 X. ESPADALER & D. SUNER Herpomyces periplanetae Thaxter, 1902 (Fig. la,b). On Periplaneta americana (L.) (Blattaria: Blattidae) from Alicante (Alicante), 20-1-1985, E. Seva leg.; on Blatta orientalis (L.) (Blattaria: Blattidae) from Sarria (Barcelona), 29-VI-1977. The genus is not listed in the previous works concerning Iberian Laboulbeniales (Balazuc et al. 1982, 1983, Santamaria 1985); it occurs only on Blattaria, and the distribution of H. periplanetae follows the one of its host, that is cosmopolitan (Thaxter 1908). Herpomyces ectobiae Thaxter 1902 (Fig. lc). On Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattaria: Blattellidae), from Girona province, without locality; M.D. Llenas leg. Same comments as above. O. Laboulbeniales. SubO. Laboulbeniineae. Fam. Laboulbeniaceae Rickia wasmannii Cavara, 1899 (Fig. ld). On Myrmica sabuleti Meinert (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Organya (Lleida), 2-X-1983, Espadaler leg; from Sta. Maria de Finestres (Girona), 17-X-1985. Suñer leg; on Myrmica specioides Bondr. from Quart (Girona), 7-VIII-1986, Suñer leg. This last species is a new host to the fungus. Deuteromycotina Aegeritella tuberculata Bal. et Wis. 1982. On Lasius umbratus (Nyl.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Sant Julia del Corb (Girona), 13-VIII-1986, Suñer leg. and Lasius distinguendus Emery from Sta. Fe, Montseny (Barcelona), 2-VI-1986, Camps leg. Both ant species are new hosts to the fungus. Aegeritella fungi have been recently found in the Iberian peninsula. The data now reported represent new hosts for the fungus, previously known from three localities in Poland (Balazi & Wisniewski, 1982) and one in Spain (Espadaler & Wisniewski, 1987). Thirty-three out of thirty-eight (86 %) ants in the sample of Lasius umbratus were found to be infected. This is the higher percentage ever recorded of Aegeritella on ants. The distribution of bulbils on the body of workers showed a similar trend as the one reported for Formica pressilabris (Nyl.) (Espadaler & Wisniewki, 1987): the bulbils are more abundant at the rear of the body (Fig. 2, Table 1); the aspect of the bulbils varies from a yellowish, flat plate, difficult to see since the ants are also yellowish, to a dark, mountain-like structure (Fig. 3); it would be highly interesting to follow the ontogeny of developing bulbils on alive material, to check if this distal distribution is due to the auto and allogrooming of the ants. Acknowledgements To Drs. E. Seva (Alicante) and C. Ascaso (Bellaterra) for allowing us to study material under their care; to S. Santamaria for his cornrnents on Laboulbeniales and to Drs. Balazy and J. Wisniewski (Poznan), who kindly corroborated the identity of Aegeritella. This work has bcen partiaIly supported by a grant frorn CICYT (1366182). HERPOMYCES ANP AEGERITELLA ON INSECTS 147 Figure 1. a) Herpomycesperiplanetae Thaxter, on Periplaneta americana (L.). Individuals are usually found in groups, growing from a common foot (F). b) Herpomyces periplanetae, closer view; the last perithecial cell (PC) grows tipically finger-like; see also the opening of the perithecium (O). c) Three individuals of Herpomyces ectobiae Thaxter on antennal segment of Blatella germanica (L.). d) Individuals of Rickia wasmannii Cavara from Myrmica sabuleti Meinert. All scales in mm. Figure 2. Cumulative number of bulbils of A. tuberculata found on head (I), thorax (2), gaster (3), first leg (4), second leg (S), and third leg (6) in 33 workers of Lasius umbratus. Table 1. Number and distribution of Aegeritella tuberculata Bal. et Wis. bulbils among workers (n = 33) of Lasius umbratus (Nyl.) from Sant Juli2 del Corb (Girona). Mean Range Position Head Thorax Gaster 1st leg 2nd leg 3rd leg Total 0.25 (0 - 1) back of head 1.33 (0 - 5) pronotum/propodeum 1.66 (0 - 6) first gaster tergit 0.55 (0 - 3) femur, tibia 1.02 (0 - 3) femur, tibia 1.63 (0 - 5) femur, tibia 6.44 (O - 18) HERPOMYCES AND AEGERITELLA ON INSECTS Figure 3. Portion of a leg of Lasius umbratus with a bulbil of Aegeritella tuberculata Bal. et Wis.; aleuriopbores (A), with small aleuriospores extrude from the growing thallus: scale in mm. References Balazuc, J., Espadaler, X. & Girbal, J. 1982. Laboulbenials (Ascomicets) ibbrics. Collect. Bot. 13:403-421. Balazuc, J., Espadaler, X. & Girbal, J. 1983. Laboulbenials (Ascomicets) ibbrics. 11. Noves aportacions. Collect. Bot. 14:39-42. Balazy, J. & Wisniewski, J. 1982. A new species of epizoic fungus on ants-Aegeritella tuberculata sp. nov. Bull. Acad. Pol. Sci., Ser. Biol. 30:85-88. Espadaler, X. & Wisniewski, J. 1987. Aegeritella superficialis Bal. et Wis. and A. tuberculata Bal. et Wis. (Deuteromycetes), epizoic fungi on two Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species in the Iberian peninsula. Butll. Inst. Cat. Hist. Nat. 54:31-35. Santamaria, S. 1985. Contribució al coneixement dels laboulbenials (Ascomicets) ibbrics. Tesina de Llicenciatura, Universitat Autbnoma de Barcelona. 272 pp. Thaxter, R. 1908. Contribution toward a monograph of the Laboulbeniaceae. Part 11. Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts Sci. 13:219-469. Manuscript received on july 1987.