Trichomycete insect symbionts in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and vicinity

Abstract

Collections of trichomycete symbionts of larval aquatic insects in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and vicinity in the southern Appalachian region of the USA resulted in finding many taxa of Harpellales, including an unusual new monotypic genus, Barbatospora ambicaudata in Simuliidae, and five new species in Thaumaleidae or Chironomidae, Harpellomyces montanus, Smittium lentaquaticum, Sm. minutisporum, Stachylina gravicaudata and St. stenospora. In addition a new species of Amoebidium (Amoebidiales), A. appalachense, attached to the anal tubules of bloodworms (Chironomidae) is described. Axenic cultures of three of the new taxa were obtained, plus Sm. culisetae. Fourteen identified species representing 13 genera of previously known Harpellales are recorded from Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera and Diptera, as well as a new Dipteran host record for an unidentified harpellid that was found in a Blephariceridae. Also identified were Paramoebidium corpulentum and many undetermined species of Paramoebidium (Amoebidiales) from four orders of aquatic insect larvae. The occurrence of an Enterobryus species in Diplopoda and another Eccrinales from an aquatic beetle is noted.

• Amoebidiales
• Diptera
• Ephemeroptera
• gut fungi
• Harpellales
• Plecoptera
• southern Appalachians
• Trichoptera

We are grateful to the National Science Foundation for supporting this research through a Biodiversity Surveys & Inventory (BS&I) Award DEB-0344722, MMW, PI. Collections in 1989 were made under NSF grant DEB-9006368, RWL, PI. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The National Research Council of Argentina (C.O.N.I.C.E.T) is gratefully acknowledged by A. Siri for a doctoral fellowship that helped to extend this opportunity, as well as NSF for financial support as a trainee on the BS&I grant. We thank Great Smoky Mountains National Park for collecting permit GRSM-2004-SCI-0057. Karen Hughes and Ron Petersen, University of Tennessee, kindly helped with the logistics to provide excellent laboratory and living facilities at their UTK Botany Field Station. Charles E. Beard led us to several sites (collections 31–35) in the southeastern part of the park, summer 2004, which resulted in finding new taxa. Matías Cafaro helped MMW and RWL for a 1 d excursion in winter 2004. Marvin Williams and Martin Huss assisted RWL with the collections in 1989. We greatly appreciate the expertise of several biologists who provided identifications of the trichomycete hosts: Peter Adler (Simuliidae), Leonard C. Ferrington, Jr. (Chironomidae), Richard L. Hoffman (Diplopoda), Boris Kondratieff (Plecoptera and Ephemeroptera), Paul Liechti (Plecoptera), Bradley S. Sinclair (Thaumaleidae) and John Wallace (Culicidae). Patricia Eckel kindly provided the Latin for the new taxa.