Abstract:

Ants are the most abundant and diverse animal species in subterranean ecosystem. They establish various complicated associations with other organisms， in which some ant groups form the oldest mutualism with fungi and become famous mycophagous insects. So far as we know， the ants which rely on fungi as a dominant food source belong to Attini and Solenopsidini， while most attine cultivar fungi are members of genus Leucoagaricus and Leucocoprinus (Basisiomycotina： Agaricales： Lepiotaceae)， with a minority belonging to members of Ascomycotina and Deuteromycotina. The mutualism between ants and fungi has gone through more than 50 million years coevolutionary history； their associations are highly integrated units， characterized by nutritional， physiological， and immune inter dependencies. Meantime， ants and fungi also have other associations， which have become the hot spot of ecological and evolutionary researches. In this paper the utilization of fungi by ants is reviewed in order to provide knowledge and information for studying relationships between ants and fungi in China.

Key words: ants, fungi, relationship, review