XVI International Botanical Congess
Undescribed yeasts were isolated from the gut of nitidulid, erotylid, tenebrionid, and scarabaeid beetles from species of Amanita, Boletus, Pisolithus, or Fomitella. The yeasts are considered to have a symbiotic relationship with the host beetles because of their high degree of host specificity. The yeasts were isolated repeatedly from hosts at different localities and at different times. Both morphological and molecular data show that the yeast isolates are mitosporic saccharomycetalean species, but two are basidiomycetous yeasts. The yeasts do not form a monophyletic group, but yeasts from two species of tenebrionids are closely related. None of the yeasts is closely related to previously described yeast symbionts of other beetles, except some isolates are a sister group to Candida xestobii, an anobiid symbiont.