Several years ago, Witte and Maschwitz (2008) discovered the
first social insect specialized in harvesting wild-growing mushrooms.
The ant Euprenolepis procera (Formicidae: Formicinae) is an
obligate mycophagist (sensu Claridge & Trappe, 2005) as its natural
diet consists primarily of a diverse spectrumof epigeous mushrooms
(Witte & Maschwitz, 2008; Fig.1). To date, little is known about how
E. procera colonies cope with this challenging diet. It has been proposed
that a migratory lifestyle in combination with opportunistic
nesting behaviour, as well as special food-processing abilities,
represent adaptations to utilize mushrooms effectively as a food
source (Witte & Maschwitz, 2008). However, this does not explain
how fast-decaying mushrooms with a spatiotemporally unpredictable
growth pattern are discovered and retrieved successfully
Several years ago, Witte and Maschwitz (2008) discovered the
first social insect specialized in harvesting wild-growing mushrooms.
The ant Euprenolepis procera (Formicidae: Formicinae) is an
obligate mycophagist (sensu Claridge & Trappe, 2005) as its natural
diet consists primarily of a diverse spectrumof epigeous mushrooms
(Witte & Maschwitz, 2008; Fig.1). To date, little is known about how
E. procera colonies cope with this challenging diet. It has been proposed
that a migratory lifestyle in combination with opportunistic
nesting behaviour, as well as special food-processing abilities,
represent adaptations to utilize mushrooms effectively as a food
source (Witte & Maschwitz, 2008). However, this does not explain
how fast-decaying mushrooms with a spatiotemporally unpredictable
growth pattern are discovered and retrieved successfully
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