Speciation and Dispersal of Fungal Symbiots of Insects (Harpellales) in Eastern North America and Europe

摘要毛滴虫门是毛滴虫纲的三个目之一，是以共生体的形式生活在昆虫体内的真菌，特别是石蝇(直翅目)、蚂蚁(EphEmeroptera)和低等苍蝇(双翅目：线角亚目)。通常情况下，这种真菌是从幼虫传播给幼虫的，这引发了人们对这些真菌是如何分布在很远的地理距离上的疑问。有证据表明，它们可能有一个寄生生活期，在这个阶段，寄主昆虫的卵巢中会形成包囊，然后在新的栖息地扩散和沉积真菌。这些真菌与寄主昆虫之间的关系以及它们之间的关系以及对它们的起源和多样性的解释，都是鲜为人知的。由于寄主昆虫包括许多具有生态和医学重要性的物种(例如，蚂蚁和石蝇、蚊子、黑蝇、叮咬的蚊子)，昆虫学家对导致寄主昆虫绝育的寄生现象的了解非常感兴趣。实地和实验室研究将有助于揭开这些真菌与其宿主之间的相互作用，包括有助于解释它们的多样性和起源的真菌的分子发育。这将允许更好地了解一组非常神秘的真菌，并使其物种能够被对共生、寄生、历史生物地理学以及可能的共同物种形成感兴趣的生物学家所了解。

Abstract Harpellales, one of three orders of the class Trichomycetes, are fungi that live as symbionts in the guts of insects, particularly stoneflies (Plecoptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), and lower flies (Diptera: Nematocera). Typically, the fungus is transmitted from larval insect to larval insect, raising questions about how the fungi are dispersed over great geographic distances. Evidence exists that they may have a parasitic life stage in which cysts are formed in the ovaries of host insects that then disperse and deposit fungi in new habitats. Details of the association of these fungi with host insects are poorly known as are relationships among the fungi and explanations for their origins and diversification. Because host insects include many species of ecological and medical importance (e.g., mayflies and stoneflies, mosquitoes, black flies, biting midges), an understanding of parasitism that can result in sterilization of the host insect has great interest to entomologists. Field and laboratory studies will help unravel the interactions between these fungi and their hosts, including a molecular informed phylogeny for the fungi that can help explain their diversification and origins. This will permit a better understanding of a very enigmatic group of fungi, and make its species accessible to biologists interested in symbiosis, parasitism, historical biogeography, and possibly co-speciation.