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<p>Microfungal communities inhabit the fungus gardens of fungus-growing ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini: Attina, the “attines”) and may play cryptic yet important ecological roles within this symbiosis. While the diversity and composition of these microorganisms are relatively well characterized in leaf-cutting ant colonies, they remain poorly understood in non-leaf-cutting attine species, including <i>Mycetomoellerius urichii</i>. To address this gap, we investigated the microfungal communities in colonies of <i>M. urichii</i> using culture-dependent methods. Based on analyses of four independent molecular loci, we identified 94 microfungal species, with <i>Trichoderma spirale</i>, <i>Syncephalastrum</i> sp., and <i>Cladosporium</i> sp. as the most abundant taxa. Several of the microfungi found in this study have also been reported from leaf-cutting ant colonies. The microfungal communities were dominated by fungi exhibiting a multitrophic lifestyle (pathotroph–saprotroph–symbiotroph). Community composition showed considerable variation among colonies, with no consistent species co-occurrence patterns detected. Together, these findings provide the first community-level characterization of culturable microfungi inhabiting the fungus gardens of <i>M. urichii</i> and offer new insights into the microbial communities associated with the fungus-farming ant symbiosis.</p>

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Unraveling Culturable Microfungal Communities Associated with Colonies of the Fungus-Farming Ant Mycetomoellerius urichii (Forel, 1893)

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月7日

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  • Mateus Oliveira da Cruz,
  • Quimi Vidaurre Montoya,
  • Raquel Lima de Sousa,
  • Gabriel Giorgio Pressuto Pennachioni,
  • Andre Rodrigues

摘要

Microfungal communities inhabit the fungus gardens of fungus-growing ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini: Attina, the “attines”) and may play cryptic yet important ecological roles within this symbiosis. While the diversity and composition of these microorganisms are relatively well characterized in leaf-cutting ant colonies, they remain poorly understood in non-leaf-cutting attine species, including Mycetomoellerius urichii. To address this gap, we investigated the microfungal communities in colonies of M. urichii using culture-dependent methods. Based on analyses of four independent molecular loci, we identified 94 microfungal species, with Trichoderma spirale, Syncephalastrum sp., and Cladosporium sp. as the most abundant taxa. Several of the microfungi found in this study have also been reported from leaf-cutting ant colonies. The microfungal communities were dominated by fungi exhibiting a multitrophic lifestyle (pathotroph–saprotroph–symbiotroph). Community composition showed considerable variation among colonies, with no consistent species co-occurrence patterns detected. Together, these findings provide the first community-level characterization of culturable microfungi inhabiting the fungus gardens of M. urichii and offer new insights into the microbial communities associated with the fungus-farming ant symbiosis.