Does Laboulbenia formicarum (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) fungus infect the invasive garden ant, Lasius neglectus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Hungary?

Laboulbenia formicarum Thaxt. (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) fungus is native to N-America and has just been recorded from Europe from the invasive ant Lasius neglectus van Loon, Boomsma et Andrásfalvy, 1990 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The ant is well-known from Hungary but the fungus is not known from there. We checked the infection of L. formicarumat the Hungarian L. neglectus localities and had negative results

First records of the myrmecophilous fungus Laboulbenia camponoti Batra (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales) from the Carpathian Basin

Laboulbenia camponoti Batra, 1963 (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales), has been found on Camponotus aethiops (Latreille, 1798) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers in the Carpathian Basin: in Baziaş, Caraş-Severin (Romania), and Vienna (Austria). Vienna is the northernmost known locality of this fungus (48°12' N). These new observations expand the area of L. camponoti from regions with Mediterranean and subtropical climatic influences to the common borders of the Continental and Pannonian regions. These results show that Camponotus samples from other climatic regions should be examined more closely for this fungal parasite

First Records Of The Recently Described Ectoparasitic Rickia lenoirii Santam. (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) In The Carpathian-Basin

Rickia lenoirii has been reported in seven localities in the Carpathian Basin, six in Hungary and one in Romania, on Messor structor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) host specimens. This is the first occurrence of this fungus in two new (Pannonian and Continental) biogeographic regions. According to our findings, the northernmost (47°31'33.01"N) known occurrence of R. lenoirii is Ferenc-hegy (Ferenc Hill) in Budapest. These results demonstrate that ant-parasitic Laboulbeniales fungi may have wider distribution areas than previously expected by mycologists and myrmecologists

First Records Of The Recently Described Ectoparasitic Rickia lenoirii Santam. (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniales) In The Carpathian-Basin

Rickia lenoirii has been reported in seven localities in the Carpathian Basin, six in Hungary and one in Romania, on Messor structor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) host specimens. This is the first occurrence of this fungus in two new (Pannonian and Continental) biogeographic regions. According to our findings, the northernmost (47°31'33.01"N) known occurrence of R. lenoirii is Ferenc-hegy (Ferenc Hill) in Budapest. These results demonstrate that ant-parasitic Laboulbeniales fungi may have wider distribution areas than previously expected by mycologists and myrmecologists

First records of the myrmecophilous fungus Laboulbenia camponoti Batra (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales) from the Carpathian Basin

Laboulbenia camponoti Batra, 1963 (Ascomycetes: Laboulbeniales), has been found on Camponotus aethiops (Latreille, 1798) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers in the Carpathian Basin: in Baziaş, Caraş-Severin (Romania), and Vienna (Austria). Vienna is the northernmost known locality of this fungus (48°12' N). These new observations expand the area of L. camponoti from regions with Mediterranean and subtropical climatic influences to the common borders of the Continental and Pannonian regions. These results show that Camponotus samples from other climatic regions should be examined more closely for this fungal parasite

Studies of Laboulbeniales on Myrmica ants (III): myrmecophilous arthropods as alternative hosts of Rickia wasmannii

Myrmecophilous arthropods and their manifold relations to host ants are interesting from an evolutionary perspective. Rickia wasmannii is an ectoparasitic fungus belonging to the Laboulbeniales order. Here, we show that inquiline mites can become infected by R. wasmannii, which was thought to be restricted to the genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). This is the first report of R. wasmannii from an alternative host in another subphylum (Chelicerata). We also found immature fruiting bodies on a larva of Microdon myrmicae (Diptera: Syrphidae), which represents the first report of any Rickia species on flies. This fungus is capable of infecting alternative, unrelated host species as they co-occur in the ant nest “microhabitat”. These observations provide direct evidence for ecological specificity in Laboulbeniales. The presence of R. wasmannii on inquilines in Myrmica ant nests suggests that the parasite may have adapted to the ant nest environment and is less dependent on acquiring specific nutrients from the hosts. However, the alternative cannot be excluded; these infections might also represent chance events if the fungus is incapable of fulfilling its life cycle

Online image databases as multi-purpose resources: discovery of a new host ant of Rickia wasmannii Cavara (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) by screening AntWeb.org

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Nitrogén-, kén- és foszforatomot tartalmazó koronaéterek szintézise, molekuláris felismerése és alkalmazása = Synthesis, molecular recognition and application of crown ethers containing nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus atoms

A kereskedelemből könnyen beszerezhető és viszonylag olcsó alapanyagokból kiindulva piridino-, ill. akridino-18-korona-6 éter alapú királis állófázisokat állítottunk elő, és ezeken jó hatásfokkal rezolváltunk racém protonált primer aminokat, aminosavakat és azok származékait HPLC-vel. Akridin egységet tartalmazó enantiomertiszta koronaétereket szintetizáltunk, és potenciametriás mérések alapján kimutattuk, hogy ezek közül az egyik figyelemre méltó enantioszelektivitást mutat a protonált 1-feniletil-amin enantiomerjeival szemben, míg egy másik kiemelkedő szelektivitással komplexálja az ezüst iont. Optikailag aktív monoaza-18-korona-6 étereket állítottunk elő, ezeket különböző fluorofor (BODIPY, akridinon, N-metilakridinon) jelzőegységgel láttuk el, és fotofizikai módszerekkel behatóan tanulmányoztuk ezek komplexképzését királis vegyületek enantiomerjeivel, ill. különböző fémionokkal szemben. Néhány esetben figyelemre méltó szelektivitást mutattunk ki. Akridinon fluoreszcens jelzőegységet tartalmazó bisz(azakoronaéter) típusú makrociklusokat szintetizáltunk, és a két aza-18-korona-6 éter receptor egységet tartalmazóról kimutattuk, hogy az mind 1:1, mind 1:2 ligandum-fémion arányú komplexek kialakítására képes. Könnyen deprotonálható dialkilhidrogén-foszfát, ill. diarilfoszfinsav egységet tartalmazó enantiomertiszta koronaétereket állítottunk elő, és részletesen tanulmányoztuk utóbbi enantioszelektív komplexképzését protonált primer aralkil-aminokkal. | We prepared chiral stationary phases based on pyridino- and acridino-18-crown-6 ethers starting from commercially available and relatively cheap materials, and using them we resolved racemic protonated primary amines, amino acids and their derivatives efficiently by HPLC. We synthetized enantiopure crown ethers containing an acridine unit, and showed by potentiometric measurements that one of them had a reasonable selectivity for the enatiomers of protonated 1-phenylethylamine, and another one complexed silver ion with very high selectivity. We prepared optically active monoaza-18-crown-6 ethers, attached different fluorofor signalling units (BODIPY, acridinon, N-methylacridinon) to them, and using photophysical methods we thoroughly studied their complexation with the enantiomers of different chiral compounds, and several metal ions, respectively. In a few cases these ligands demonstrated remarkable selectivity. We synthetized bis(azacrown ether)s containing an acridinone signalling unit, and we showed that the one having two aza-18-crown-6 ether receptor units is able to form complexes with both 1:1 and 1:2 ligand to metal ion ratios. We prepared enantiopure proton-ionizable crown ethers containing an dialkylhidrogenphosphate or a diarylphosphinic acid unit, and we thoroughly studied the enantioselective complex formation of the latter with protonated primary aralkyl amines