Discovery of mycangia and mucus in adult female Xiphydriid Woodwasps (Hymenoptera: Xiphydriidae) in Japan

Abstract

Dissection of emerging adult xiphydriid woodwasps. Xiphydria ogasawarai Matsumura, occurring in eastern, central, and western Japan during a 2- to 4-yr period, revealed that adult females possessed mycangia filled with fungal spores, whereas the mycangia were absent in males. Two masses of the spore were located on the slit-like 1st and 2nd valvulae of the ovipositor sting directly below the subgenital plate, and were covered with the ventral membranes. This is a new type of mycangia in woodwasps. The spores were globular or ovoid in shape and ≈5-30 μm in diameter, and had no clamp connections. All isolates from the mycangia of the xiphydriid populations. originating from different sites and years, developed the same colonies on potato-dextrose agar. This suggests that female adults of X. ogasawarai carry a single fungal species in their mycangia. It was also found that X. ogasawarai produced a slime-like secretion from glandular organs in the body cavity (mucus reservoir), which is homologous to that present in the Siricinae.