More recently, insect-associated yeasts have been discovered in the gut of many fungus-feeding beetles, and this habitat is interesting not only for its high taxonomic diversity, but also for the possibility that the yeasts participate in previously unrecognized yeast–insect symbioses. In our continuing study of gut yeasts, more than 200 novel taxa have been characterized from among 650 strains isolated with minimal collecting effort from beetles living in fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi