Entomophthorales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microsporidia

Entomophthora

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Fungi
Phylum:	Zygomycota
Class:	Zygomycetes
Order:	Entomophthorales

Families

Ancylistaceae
Basidiobolaceae
Completoriaceae
Entomophthoraceae
Meristacraceae
Neozygitaceae

The Entomophthorales are an order of fungi that has traditionally been classified in the class Zygomycetes. Most species of the Entomophthorales are pathogens of insects, a few attack nematodes, mites, and tardigrades, and some (particularly the genus Conidiobolus) are free-living saprotrophs.

The name Entomophthorales is derived from the Greek for insect destroyer (Gk: entomo=insect, phthor=destroyer)

Green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, killed by the fungus Pandora neoaphidis (Zygomycota: Entomophthorales) Scale bar = 0.3 mm.

1 Highlighted species
2 Biology
3 Classification
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Highlighted species

Basidiobolus ranarum, a commensal fungus of frogs and a mammal pathogen
Condiobolus coronatus, a saprotrophic fungus of leaf litter and a mammal pathogen
Entomophaga maimaiga, a biocontrol of gypsy moths
Entomophthora muscae, a pathogen of houseflies
Massospora spp., pathogens of periodical cicadas

[edit] Biology

Most species of the Entomophthorales produce ballistic asexual spores that are forcibly discharged. When not landing on a suitable host, these spores can germinate to make a one of several alternate spore forms, including a smaller version of the original spore, or (in some species) an adhesive spore elevated on a very slender conidiophore called a capilliconidiophore.

[edit] Classification

Recent debate has centered on whether the Basidiobolaceae should be included in the Entomophthorales, or raised to ordinal status. Molecular systematics approaches so far give an ambiguous answer. Some analyses suggest the Basdiobolaceae are more closely related to certain chytrid fungi than to the Entomophthorales (Nagahama et al. 1995). Others find weak support to maintain them in the Entomophthorales (James et al. 2006). Morphological characters can be found to support either hypothesis.

[edit] References

C.J. Alexopoulos, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell et. al., Introductory Mycology, 4^th ed. (John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken NJ, 2004) ISBN: 0-471-52229-5.

Balazy, S. 1993, Entomophthorales: Flora of Poland (Flora Polska), Fungi (Mycota), v. 24. Kraków, Poland, Polish Academy of Science, W. Szafer Inst. Botany.

Humber, R. A. 1989. Synopsis of a revised classification for the Entomophthorales (Zygomycotina). Mycotaxon 34:441-460.

James, T. Y., F. Kauff, C. L. Schoch, P. B. Matheny, V. Hofstetter, C. J. Cox, G. Celio et al. 2006. Reconstructing the early evolution of Fungi using a six-gene phylogeny. Nature 443:818-823.

Nagahama, T., H. Sato, M. Shimazu, and J. Sugiyama. 1995. Phylogenetic divergence of the entomophthoralean fungi: evidence from nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Mycologia 87:203-209.