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Free-living fungal symbionts (Lepiotaceae) of fungus-growing ants (Attini: Formicidae)

     ¹ University of Texas, Austin, TX
² University of Texas
³ Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, 1 University Station C0930, Austin, TX, 78712, United States of America

Surveys of leucocoprinaceous fungi (Lepiotaceae, Agaricales, Basidiomycota) in the rainforests of Panama and Brazil revealed several free-living counterparts of fungi cultivated by primitive attine ants (the lower Attini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera), adding to two such collections identified in a previous survey (Mueller et al. 1998). The accumulated evidence supports the hypothesis that many, if not all, fungi of lower attine ants may enter and leave the attine symbiosis frequently over evolutionary time. Free-living counterparts of ant-cultivated fungi appear most readily collected during the early rainy season, particularly free-living mushrooms of fungal counterparts that are cultivated as yeasts in gardens of ants in the Cyphomyrmex rimosus group. Free-living and symbiotic fungi of these yeast-cultivating ant species may represent a promising study system to compare the biologies of sympatric, conspecific fungi existing outside versus inside the attine symbiosis.

Key words: basidiocarp, coevolution, fungus-gardening, mutualism, symbiosis