“That could be significant because the more general and broadly applicable a control strategy is, the more economical it is to develop and test,” Solomon said. “Based on what we know so far, it could be possible to develop an Escovopsis-based control strategy in which a single form of the parasite could be used to target several different species of ant.”
Solomon said a significant amount of research still needs to be done before such a strategy could be developed. For example, biologists have yet to document the complete life cycle of Escovopsis. Such studies would be needed to fully understand how the parasite undermines a colony’s health and how broadly it might be used against leaf-cutter species.
Study co-authors include Lucas Meirelles of São Paulo State and April Wright of UT-Austin. Research funding was provided by the São Paulo Research Support Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
- See more at: http://news.rice.edu/2015/10/07/research-points-to-possible-fungal-control-for-leaf-cutter-ants-2/#sthash.0PgprRLx.dpuf