Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Dinidorid stinkbugs were reported to possess a conspicuous tympanal organ on female hindlegs. In this study, we show that this organ is specialized to retain microbial symbionts rather than to perceive sound. The organ's surface is not membranous but consists of porous cuticle in which each pore connects to glandular secretory cells. In reproductive females, the hindleg organ is covered with fungal hyphae that grow from the pores. Upon oviposition, the females transfer the fungi from the organ to the eggs, where the hyphae physically protect the eggs against wasp parasitism. The fungi comprise a diversity of mostly low-pathogenicity Cordycipitaceae.
Authors
- Takahiro Hosokawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7618-1774)
- Takanori Nishino
- Takema Fukatsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5987-2602)
- Naruo Nikoh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5782-2177)
- Ryuichi Koga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0903-0364)
- Hiromi Mukai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6635-4651)
- Shuji Tachikawa
- Masahiko Tanahashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3832-273X)
- Minoru Moriyama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4369-6477)
- Hsin-Yi Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2493-6458)
- Chih‐Horng Kuo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2857-0529)
Institutions
- Kyushu University (JP)
- University of Tsukuba (JP)
- The Open University of Japan (JP)
- Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica (TW)
- Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (JP)
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (JP)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-10-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp6699
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.08