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The distribution of the entomogenous fungus Antennopsis gallica is extended with its discovery on Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) in Canada. The level of infection varied between termite castes. The most heavily infected termites were those that belonged to terminal, nonmoulting castes, soldiers and neotenic reproductives being more infected than workers and nymphs. Several termites carried in excess of 200 fungal thalli, with a maximum number of 479 thalli occurring on a single neotenic reproductive. The distribution of the fungus on termite cuticle appears to be random, with larger body regions supporting proportionately larger numbers of fungal thalli. The fungus was observed in different stages of development, with over 50% occurring as fungal holdfasts and fewer than 10% with fully developed conidiophores. There was no indication that termite health was compromised by the presence of this ectoparasitic fungus. |
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