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Citation for Study 10528

About Citation title: "Repeated evolution of theft in fungus farming ambrosia beetles.".
About Study name: "Repeated evolution of theft in fungus farming ambrosia beetles.".
About This study is part of submission 10518 (Status: Published).

Citation

Hulcr J., & Cognato A. 2010. Repeated evolution of theft in fungus farming ambrosia beetles. Evolution, .

Authors

  • Hulcr J. (submitter) Phone 517-256-1894
  • Cognato A.

Abstract

We report repeated evolution of fungal crop stealing, termed mycocleptism, among ambrosia beetles. Ambrosia beetles, dominant wood degraders in the tropics, create tunnels in dead trees and employ gardens of symbiotic fungi to extract nutrients from wood. The mycocleptic species seek brood galleries of other species, and exploit their established fungal gardens by tunneling through the ambient mycelium-laden wood. Instead of carrying their own fungal sybmbionts, mycocleptae depend on adopting the fungal assemblages of their host species, as shown by an analysis of fungal DNA from beetle galleries. The evidence for widespread horizontal exchange of fungi between beetles challenges the traditional concept of ambrosia fungi as species-specific symbionts. Fungus stealing appears to be an evolutionarily successful strategy. It evolved independently in several beetle clades, two of which have radiated, and at least one case was accompanied by a loss of the beetles' fungus-transpor! ting organs. We demonstrate this using the first robust phylogeny of one of the world's largest group of ambrosia beetles, Xyleborini.

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  • Canonical resource URI: http://purl.org/phylo/treebase/phylows/study/TB2:S10528
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