Title

Advancing Our Understanding of Gut Fungi (Trichomycetes) Associated with Isopoda

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

April 2016

Faculty Sponsor

Merlin White

Abstract

Trichomycetes is a traditional class of Fungi now recognized as an ecological group of fungi and protists obligately associated with the digestive tracts of various non-predaceous arthropods. Among candidates, Isopoda is a well-recognized host with currently up to 7 genera known. It makes for an interesting host because of varied habitats that include freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems. They are easily collected and recognized. A favorite childhood isopod, the roly-poly or pill-bug, is an excellent host of gut fungi, which will be highlighted herein. We will report on collections of isopods from over several years by our research laboratory. Most importantly we will be focusing on a few of the taxa including Asellaria, Baltomyces, and Parataeniella, in respects to their morphological identification and distribution. There is much to discover in this group which, despite their ease of collection and dissection, are relatively under-surveyed in the literature.

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