Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with mites phoretic on bark beetles in Qinghai, China.

ABSTRACT: Bark beetle galleries are complex ecosystems where many microbes and other arthropods co-exist with the beetles. Fungi isolated from these galleries are often referred to as 'beetle associates', but the nature of these associations are poorly understood. The possibility that many of these fungi might in fact be mite associates is often overlooked. Several recent studies explored the diversity of fungi from conifer-infesting bark beetles and their galleries in China, but only one study considered phoretic mites and their fungi from conifer-infesting bark beetles in Yunnan, southwestern China. We studied the mites and fungi from galleries of four spruce-infesting bark beetle species in the high altitude forests of Qinghai province, western China. Mites were identified based on morphological

SUBMITTER: Chang R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7391587 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature