Allocordyceps

Allocordyceps
Temporal range: Middle Eocene
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.[1][2] The fossil of Allocordyceps baltica, from the Baltic Amber, represents the oldest known fossil of an ant-parasitizing fungus before Ophiocordyceps.[3][4]

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.[4] 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. ^ 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.


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