Ambrosia gall midges are endophagous insect herbivores whose larvae live enclosed within a single gall for their entire development period. They may exhibit phytomycetophagy, a remarkable feeding mode that involves the consumption of plant biomass and mycelia of their cultivated gall symbionts. Thus, AGMs are ideal model organisms for studying the role of microorganisms in the evolution of host specificity in insects. However, compared to other fungus-farming insects, insect-fungus mutualism in AGMs has been neglected. Our study is the first to use DNA metabarcoding to characterize the complete mycobiome of the entire system of the gall-forming insects as we profiled gall surfaces, nutritive mycelia, and larvae. Interestingly, larval mycobiomes were significantly different from their nutritive mycelia, although Botryosphaeria dothidea dominated the nutritive mycelia, regardless of the evolutionary separation of the tribes studied. Therefore, we confirmed a long-time hypothesized paradigm for the important evolutionary association of this fungus with AGMs.

• Klíčová slova
• Asphondylia, Cecidomyiidae, Lasioptera, ambrosia gall midge, fungiculture, larval mycobiome, metabarcoding, nutritive mycelium, phytomycetophagy,
• MeSH
• Ambrosia MeSH
• Diptera * MeSH
• hmyz MeSH
• larva MeSH
• mykobiom * MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Intrataxonomic differences in terms of angiosperm suitability for herbivorous insects stem from variables such as plant structure, palatability, and chemistry. It has not yet been elucidated whether these differences also occur in terms of the bryophyte's suitability to bryophages. Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw. is a morphologically variable moss species frequently inhabited or fed by insects. In this investigation, we offered five morphotypes of H. cupressiforme to two bryophagous species of Byrrhidae (Coleoptera) to reveal whether the intrataxonomic variability affects beetles' preferences. The morphotypes were offered with preserved and removed spatial structures. There were no significant differences in morphotype preferences when spatial structures were preserved, although during the daytime, the beetles moved from the flat morphotype to the usual and turgid morphotypes. The beetles preferred the turgid morphotype when the spatial structures were removed. The results suggest that the spatial structure variations in the H. cupressiforme complex are accompanied by different chemical, physiological, or microscopic morphological profiles that are recognized by the bryophagous insects. Phylogenetic and epigenetic analyses can reveal multiple differences within the H. cupressiforme complex. Their interconnection with information about the preferences of bryophagous insects can help us to elucidate which of these differences are ecologically relevant.

• Klíčová slova
• Hypnum cupressiforme, bryophagous insects, bryophagy, herbivory, host preferences,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH