Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK København Ø, Denmark.
Unitat de Botànica, Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
PLoS One. 2018 Nov 28;13(11):e0206900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206900. eCollection 2018.
Laboulbeniales are highly specific ectoparasitic fungi of arthropods (insects, millipedes, and arachnids). The first Laboulbeniales parasitizing the millipede order Chordeumatida (Diplopoda) were discovered and described as a new dioecious genus of Laboulbeniales, Thaxterimyces, to accommodate the new species T. baliensis. Also the millipede host is a new species and is described as Metopidiothrix sheari. This is the first time Laboulbeniales fungus and its millipede host are described as new together. Males of Metopidiothrix have the most extensive secondary sexual modifications in the entire class Diplopoda. Although nothing is known about the function of these modifications, the unique pattern of Laboulbeniales infection in the new millipede species is obviously related to host sexual behavior. Rotational Scanning Electron Micrographs (rSEM) are used to create a 3D comprehensive model to examine the fungal-host interaction, a more advanced visualization of the ectoparasitic fungus on its host. Laboulbeniales diversity on millipedes is still understudied, and a consistent effort is needed to unveil and understand the extent and diversity of this biological interaction. Due to their minute size and apparently non-detrimental effect on their hosts, Laboulbeniales in general have been largely ignored by mycologists and neglected by generations of entomologists. As a result a significant component of global biodiversity has been strongly underestimated, and a wealth of new discoveries is still to be made both in the field and in existing museum collections.
枝角菌目是高度特异的节肢动物（昆虫、倍足纲和蛛形纲）外寄生真菌。首次发现并描述了寄生倍足纲 Chordeumatida 目（多足纲）的枝角菌目，为一新的两性枝角菌目属，Thaxterimyces，以容纳新种 T. baliensis。此外，这种千足虫宿主也是一个新种，被描述为 Metopidiothrix sheari。这是首次同时描述枝角菌目真菌及其千足虫宿主为新种。Metopidiothrix 的雄性具有整个多足纲中最广泛的次级性形态发生。尽管对这些形态发生的功能一无所知，但在新的千足虫物种中，枝角菌目感染的独特模式显然与宿主的性行为有关。旋转扫描电子显微镜 (rSEM) 用于创建 3D 综合模型，以检查真菌 - 宿主相互作用，这是对外寄生真菌在其宿主上的更高级可视化。千足虫上的枝角菌目多样性仍在研究之中，需要做出一致的努力来揭示和理解这种生物相互作用的程度和多样性。由于它们的微小尺寸和对其宿主显然没有损害作用，枝角菌目真菌在很大程度上被真菌学家忽视，也被几代昆虫学家忽视。结果，全球生物多样性的一个重要组成部分被严重低估，无论是在实地还是在现有的博物馆收藏中，都有大量新的发现有待发现。
