Mycangium

The term mycangium (pl., mycangia) is used in biology for special structures on the body of an animal that are adapted for the transport of symbiotic fungi (usually in spore form). This is seen in many xylophagous insects (e.g. horntails and bark beetles), which apparently derive much of their nutrition from the digestion of various fungi that are growing amidst the wood fibers. In some cases, as in ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae), the fungi are the sole food, and the excavations in the wood are simply to make a suitable microenvironment for the fungus to grow. In other cases (e.g., the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis), wood tissue is the main food, and fungi weaken the defense response from the host plant. Some species of phoretic mites that ride on the beetles, have their own type of mycangium, but for historical reasons, mite taxonomists use the term acarinarium. Apart from riding on the beetles, the mites live together with them in their burrows in the wood. These structures were first systematically described by Helene Francke-Grosmann at 1956. Then Lekh R. Batra coined the word mycangia: modern Latin, from Greek myco 'fungus' + angeion 'vessel'. The most common function of mycangia is preserving and releasing symbiotic inoculum. Usually, the symbiotic inoculum in mycangia will benefit their vectors (typically insect or mites), helping them to adapt to the new environment or provide nutrients of the vectors themselves and their descendants. For example, the ambrosia beetle (Euwallacea fornicatus) carries the symbiotic fungus Fusarium. When the beetle bores a host plant, it releases the symbiotic fungus from its mycangium. The symbiotic fungus becomes a plant pathogen, acting to weaken the resistance of host plant. In the meantime, the fungus grows quickly in the galleries as the main food of beetle. After reproduction, maturing beetles will fill their mycangia with symbiont before hunting for a new host plant.