title: Escovopsis trichodermoides sp. nov., isolated from a nest of the lower attine ant Mycocepurus goeldii.
abstract: Currently, five species are formally described in Escovopsis, a specialized mycoparasitic genus of fungus gardens of attine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: tribe Attini). Four species were isolated from leaf-cutting ants in Brazil, including Escovopsis moelleri and Escovopsis microspora from nests of Acromyrmex subterraneus molestans, Escovopsis weberi from a nest of Atta sp. and Escovopsis lentecrescens from a nest of Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus. The fifth species, Escovopsis aspergilloides was isolated from a nest of the higher attine ant Trachymyrmex ruthae from Trinidad. Here, we describe a new species, Escovopsis trichodermoides isolated from a fungus garden of the lower attine ant Mycocepurus goeldii, which differs from the five other species by highly branched, trichoderma-like conidiophores lacking swollen vesicles, with reduced conidiogenous cells and distinctive conidia morphology. Phylogenetic analyses based on partial tef1 gene sequences support the distinctiveness of this species. A portion of the internal transcribed spacers of the nuclear rDNA was sequenced to serve as a DNA barcode. Future molecular and morphological studies in this group of fungi will certainly unravel the taxonomic diversity of Escovopsis associated with fungus-growing ants.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudos de Insetos Sociais, Instituto de Biociências, UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista, Campus de Rio Claro, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil, vemasiulionis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Virginia E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Masiulionis
authors.forename: Marta N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Cabello
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Fernando C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Pagnocca
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants; D001938:Brazil; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006999:Hypocreales / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D008853:Microscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D018509:DNA, Helminth; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1