Stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Meliponini) feeding on stinkhorn spores (Fungi, Phallales): robbery or dispersal?

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Records about stingless bee-fungi interaction are very rare. In Brazilian Amazonia, workers of Trigona crassipes (Fabricius, 1793) and Trigona fulviventris Guerin, 1835 visiting two stinkhorn species, Diclyophora sp. and Phallus sp., respectively, were observed. The workers licked the fungi gleba, a mucilaginous mass of spores covering the pi leum. Neither gleba residue nor spores were found on the body surface of these bee workers. These observations indicate that these bee species include spores as a complement in their diet. On the other hand, they also suggest that these stingless bees can, at times, fac ilitate spore dispersal, in case intact spores are eliminated with the teces.

Fusarium oxysporum dispersion by larvae of Cyclocephala modesta, Dyscinetus gagates and Diloboderus abderus in Brazil

“…In another study, Muscidae and Drosophillidae feed on Phallales fungi (Dictyophora indusiata and D. duplicata), eliminating intact spores with high germination rates (TUNO, 1998). Another study also showed that bees (Trigona crassipes and T. fulviventris) did not digest spores, indicating possible dispersion of intact spores eliminated in the feces (OLIVEIRA & MORATO, 2000).…”

Diversity, population genetics, and evolution of macrofungi associated with animals

“…The insects are attracted to these fruiting bodies by the volatile substances they emit and forage the top of the fungi, with the spores released as excrement (Oliveira and Morato 2000). In this process, the insects consume the mucous matrix of the spores as nutrition while the spores remain intact and retain their germination ability in the digestive system until being excreted by the insects (Burr et al 1996; Tuno 1998; Oliveira and Morato 2000). This pattern of spore dispersal is similar to the fly-pollinated angiosperm flowers (Johnson and Jürgens 2010).…”

Espécies raras de Phallales (Agaricomycetidae, Basidiomycetes) no Nordeste do Brasil

“…Seus representantes apresentam ampla distribuição geográfica, embora, a maior diversidade provavelmente esteja nas florestas tropicais (Hawksworth 2001), onde são importantes na reciclagem da matéria orgânica vegetal. Ainda possuem interessantes estratégias na dispersão dos esporos, utilizando, na maioria das vezes, insetos como agentes dispersores (Oliveira & Morato 2000;Shaw & Roberts 2002).…”