The Yeast Fungus Trichosporon lactis Found as an Epizoic Colonizer of Dung Beetle Exoskeletons.

The study on the biology and biodiversity of coprophagous Scarabaeoidea carried out in the Polish Carpathians revealed the occurrence of unusual epizoic excrescences on various dung beetles species of the genus Onthophagus. The excrescences occur on the elytra, prothorax, and head of the studied beetles. Detailed research on this phenomenon determined that the fungus grew in the form of multicellular thalli. The ITS-based identification of fungal material collected from beetles' exoskeletons resulted in a 100 % match with Trichosporon lactis. Until now, only a yeast lifestyle/stage was known for this basidiomycete species. Therefore, in this paper, we describe a new substrate for growth of T. lactis and its unknown and intriguing relationship with dung beetles. The results obtained in this study open up numerous research possibilities on the new role of dung beetles in terrestrial ecosystems, as well as on using the physiological properties of T. lactis to restore soils.