Date of Award
2006
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Biology
Supervisor
Dr. R. Greg Thom
Abstract
Caterpillars, the larvae of Lepidoptera, are the main herbivores in many forests of ? ; . ! j i i 1 ! 4 : : the world. Foliage-feeding caterpillars also consume microbes, including fungi, occurring on and in leaves. If these fungi pass unharmed through the digestive tract, it should be possible to culture them also from caterpillar guts and frass. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare fungal communities associated with two Saturniidae caterpillars foraging on six host plants in the dry forest of Area de Conservaciôn Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Morphological and molecular identification of 835 cultures isolated revealed 48 genera and 123 species. Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Pestalotiopsis, Pénicillium, Fusarium, Phoma and Trichoderma were the most frequently isolated genera, but many species and genera were detected only once or twice. Although fungal communities from all four sources were similar in composition, the gut of Rothschildialebeau yielded the greatest diversity and estimated species richness, and frass yielded the least
Recommended Citation
Urb, Mirjam, "FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH COSTA RICAN CATERPILLAR" (2006). Digitized Theses. 5134.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/5134