Trichomycetes living in the guts of aquatic insects of Misiones and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Abstract

Fourteen species of Trichomycetes living in the guts of aquatic insects are reported from two provinces of Argentina, Misiones and Tierra del Fuego. Twelve of the species belong to the Harpellales and two are Amoebidiales. Five harpellid species are reported from Misiones in the extreme northeast of the country (Genistellospora homothallica, Harpella tica, Smittium culisetae, Smittium sp., Stachylina sp.) and seven are from Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of South America (H. meridianalis, Glotzia sp., S. culicis, S. cellaspora, S. imitatum, Stachylina minima, Penella simulii). Insect hosts all were immature stages of Culicidae, Simuliidae, Chironomidae, Ceratopogonidae (Insecta: Diptera), and Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera. The lower diversity of Trichomycetes found at Misiones, which has a subtropical climate and rainforest vegetation, was due possibly to the warmer temperatures of the water (15–24 C), compared to the colder streams of Tierra del Fuego (9–15 C), with forests and steppes as typical vegetation.

• biogeography
• Chironomidae
• Culicidae
• Ephemeroptera
• fungi
• Harpellales
• insects
• Simuliidae

This project was supported by a Grant No. 7129-01 of the National Geographic Foundation (USA). We are indebted to Mr Gustavo Rossi for mosquito identifications and to Mrs Cristina Estivaritz for making the drawings and helping with the plates. We also thank those who kindly provided laboratory space and collecting facilities: Dr Aníbal Amat and Dra Aída Tricio from the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Posadas; Dr Olivero, director of CADIC; Dra Laura Comoglio and Dr Oscar Amim for kindly helping to find laboratory space and other matters; and Mr Julio Escobar for field support, CADIC, Usuhaia, Tierra del Fuego. We also thank the National Park Service of Argentina for providing collecting permits and laboratory facilities, especially Lic. Karina Schiaffino from CIES (Centro de Estudios Tropicales, Parque Nacional Iguazú ) and Lic. Laura Malmierca from Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. We greatly appreciate the comments of Dr Robert Lichtwardt who kindly reviewed this manuscript and for his valuable suggestions and advice.