Misplaced Pages

Allocordyceps

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Extinct genus of fungus

Allocordyceps
Temporal range: Middle Eocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Sordariomycetes
Order: Hypocreales
Family: Clavicipitaceae
Genus: Allocordyceps
Poinar
Type species
Allocordyceps baltica
Poinar

Allocordyceps is an extinct genus of parasitic fungus in the order Hypocreales that parasitized carpenter ants. The fossil of Allocordyceps baltica, from the Baltic Amber, represents the oldest known fossil of an ant-parasitizing fungus before Ophiocordyceps.

Carpenter ants, similar to the host parasitized by A. baltica

Description

Allocordyceps is characterized by its ascoma being an orange color, stalked and cusp shaped. It also has a pair of partially immersed perithecia that emerges from the rectum. Hosts parasitized by Allocordyceps have separate stromata with separate mycelium emerging from the neck and abdomen. It might alter its host's behavior much like the extant Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.

References

  1. "Carpenter Ants Management Guidelines--UC IPM". ipm.ucanr.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  2. "Camponotus - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  3. "How a parasitic fungus turns ants into 'zombies'". Animals. 2019-04-18. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  4. ^ Poinar, George; Maltier, Yves-Marie (2021-11-01). "Allocordyceps baltica gen. et sp. nov. (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), an ancient fungal parasite of an ant in Baltic amber". Fungal Biology. 125 (11): 886–890. doi:10.1016/j.funbio.2021.06.002. ISSN 1878-6146.
Taxon identifiers
Allocordyceps
Allocordyceps baltica


Stub icon

This fungus-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: