蚂蚁和真菌关系的研究进展

蚂蚁是陆地生态系统中种类和数量最为丰富的动物类群,与其他许多物种都具有广泛而复杂的联系;其中一些类群与真菌形成古老的共生关系,成为著名的菌食性昆虫.蚂蚁与真菌间的共生关系已具有长达5 000多万年的协同进化历史,迄今已知的与真菌共生的蚂蚁主要为爱特蚁族和火蚁族的种类,而蚂蚁培养的真菌主要属于担子菌亚门伞菌目环柄菇科白环蘑属和白鬼伞属,少数种类属于子囊菌亚门和半知菌亚门.蚂蚁和真菌间形成一个高度进化的单元,相互间存在营养、生理方面以及免疫互助等特点;蚂蚁与真菌间的关系已成为生态学、进化学研究的热点.结合笔者在蚂蚁与真菌关系方面研究的部分进展,对蚂蚁与真菌的关系及其对真菌的利用方式等进行总结和概述,以期为我国在蚂蚁与真菌间关系研究方面提供信息和思路.

Progress in the Study of Relationship between Ants and Fungi

Ants are the most abundant and diverse animal species in subterranean ecosystem. They establish various complicated associations with other organisms, in which some ant groups form the oldest mutualism with fungi and become famous mycophagous insects. So far as we know, the ants which rely on fungi as a dominant food source belong to Attini and Solenopsidini, while most attine cultivar fungi are members of genus Leucoagaricw and Leucocoprinus ( Basisiomycotina: Agaricales: Lepiotaceae) , with a minority belonging to members of Ascomycotina and Deuteromycotina. The mutualism between ants and fungi has gone through more than 50 million years revolutionary history; their associations are highly integrated units, characterized by nutritional, physiological, and immune inter dependencies. Meantime, ants and fungi also have other associations, which have become the hot spot of ecological and evolutionary researches. In this paper the utilization of fungi by ants is reviewed in order to provide knowledge and information for studying relationships between ants and fungi in China.