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ABSTRACT
A new species and a new monotypic genus of legless mealybug, Orbuspedum machinator gen. et sp. nov., are described and illustrated, based on material collected from bamboo twigs in southern Thailand. Larvae and females of the new species each live inside an individual conical domicile constructed from densely packed fungal hyphae of the sooty mould Capnodium sp., mixed with small quantities of wax, secreted by the mealybug. The domicile is enlarged as the insect grows; the insect irrigates the hyphae with honeydew through a small orifice at the apex of the domicile. While the insect produces honeydew and feeds the fungus, the fungus grows around the insect, protects it from predators, and buttresses the soft apodal body of the mealybug. Such a remarkable example of mutualistic symbiosis between an animal and a fungus is reported for the first time.
www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C0A84631-C6A0-4177-BC50-A71D6281107F
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Dr Dmitry A. Gapon for consultations on Latin grammar and Dr Eugenia Labina for linguistic corrections. I am also very grateful to Dr Putarak Chomnunti from Mae Fah Luang University (Thailand) for the identification of the fungus. The work was performed in the context of the state research project no. 01201351189 in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The expedition expenses were covered by grants of the fund of the President of the Russian Federation: МК-6075.2010.4 and МК-300.2013.4 and by a personal travel grant from the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund (UK).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.