Insect feeding on spores of a bracket fungus, Elfvingia applanata (Pers.) Karst. (Ganodermataceae, Aphyllophorales)

Insects visiting sporocarps of Elfvingia applanata, a wood-rotting bracket fungus, were examined in Kyoto, central Japan. Mycodrosophila flies (Drosop hilidae: Diptera) were predominant and visited the spore-producing sporocar ps exclusively. They were observed feeding on the spores, and a number of s pores seemed to be alive even after having passed through insects' digestiv e tracts. In addition, the insects attached a number of spores on their bod y surfaces. In a rearing experiment with insects caught from E, applanata s porocarps, Mycodrosophila flies excreted 7700-469 000 and dropped 10 000-32 9 000 of viable spores during 48 h after collection. They were supposed to migrate among the sporocarps of other bracket fungi growing on different lo gs or stumps, suggesting that Mycodrosophila flies may act as spore-dispers al agents for E. applanata.