Ambrosia beetles breed and maintain their own food fungi

The bark beetle species Xyleborinus saxesenii has agricultural skills. Photo: Gernot Kunz - Experiment at the University of Freiburg provides first evidence of a bark beetle species' agricultural capability Freiburg, Nov 02, 2022 Ambrosia beetles practice active agriculture: A bark beetle species breeds and cultivates food fungi in its nests and ensures that so-called weed fungi spread less. This has now been experimentally demonstrated for the first time by biologist Janina Diehl from Freiburg. She is a doctoral candidate under Peter Biedermann , Professor of Forest Entomology and Forest Protection at the University of Freiburg. Diehl examined laboratory fungal gardens of the fruit-tree pinhole borer ( Xyleborinus saxesenii ), which belongs to the ambrosia beetles and is found in many native parks and gardens with old trees. She found that the beetles are actively influencing the composition of their fungal gardens. The research findings have just been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B .