First records of the myrmecophilous fungus Laboulbenia camponoti Batra (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales) from Austria and Romania

Abstract

Laboulbenia camponoti Batra, 1963 (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales), has been found on Camponotus aethiops (Latreille, 1798) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers in the Carpathian Basin: in Baziaş, Caraş-Severin (Romania), and Vienna (Austria). Vienna is the northernmost known locality of this fungus (48°12' N). These new observations expand the area of L. camponoti from regions with Mediterranean and subtropical climatic influences to the common borders of the Continental and Pannonian regions. These results show that Camponotus samples from other climatic regions should be examined more closely for this fungal parasite.

Keywords

• Camponotus aethiops
• Carpathian Basin
• Central-Europe
• mycology
• social parasite