The nest fungus of the lower termite Reticulitermes labralis

Fitness-determining interactions with fungi have often been considered a by-product of social evolution in insects. In higher termites, the mutualistic association between the basidiomycete genus Termitomyces and Macrotermitinae is well known. However, whether and how lower termites use fungi is unclear. Here, we found a large amount of brown sclerotium-forming fungi in egg piles of the lower termite Reticulitermes labralis and identified the sclerotia as Fibulorhizoctonia sp. There was a significant difference in morphology between the sclerotia and the termite eggs. The workers of R. labralis and R. chinensis actively gathered the sclerotia into the egg piles within their nests, whereas the workers of R. aculabialis did not gather sclerotia outside their nests. None of the sclerotia in the egg piles germinated in the presence of workers. However, the sclerotia germinated in the absence of workers, and then the hyphae killed the termite eggs. The data from cellulase activity demonstrated that Fibulorhizoctonia sp. was able to exhaustively digest cellulose into glucose.We confirmed for the first time that the workers carrying the sclerotia into the piles of eggs is not due to mistaking the sclerotia for their eggs and that the workers of R. labralis may be able to select favourite fungi.