Sandra B. Andersen

PhD student (KU)

The vast majority of insect-associated fungi in the order Hypocreales are virulent parasites e.g. the manipulative ant parasites of the genus Ophiocordyceps. While these parasites are common on Camponotus carpenter ants in SE Asia (a system that I studied for my MSc degree) they are remarkably rare in the leaf-cutting ants, despite their status as dominant herbivorous arthropods in South- and Central America. I am trying to clarify whether some Hypocreales associated with leafcutting ants may in fact be mutualists rather than parasites, and to elucidate the extent to which these cryptic symbionts might have co-diversified with the ants. My studies involve field work in Panama and DNA lab work in Copenhagen.

SBAndersen@bio.ku.dk

Theme: [T4], [T6]

Organisms: [Fungus-growing ants], [Pathogenic fungi]