Allocordyceps
Appearance
Allocordyceps Temporal range: Middle Eocene
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Genus: | Allocordyceps Poinar
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Type species | |
Allocordyceps baltica |
Allocordyceps baltica is an extinct species of parasitic fungus in the order Hypocreales that parasitized carpenter ants.[1][2] The fossil of Allocordyceps, from the Baltic Amber, represents the oldest known fossil of an ant-parasitizing fungus before Ophiocordyceps.[3][4]
Description
[edit]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.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ "Carpenter Ants Management Guidelines--UC IPM". ipm.ucanr.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
- ^ "Camponotus - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
- ^ "How a parasitic fungus turns ants into 'zombies'". Animals. 2019-04-18. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
- ^ a b 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.