Allocordyceps

{{Short description|Extinct genus of fungus}}

{{Automatic_taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Geological age|Middle Eocene}}

| image = Allocordyceps baltica restoration.jpg

| image_caption = Restoration of A. baltica on Camponotus

| taxon = Allocordyceps

| authority = Poinar

| type_species = Allocordyceps baltica

| type_species_authority = Poinar

}}

Allocordyceps is an extinct genus of parasitic fungus in the order Hypocreales that parasitized carpenter ants.{{cite web |title=Carpenter Ants Management Guidelines--UC IPM |website=ipm.ucanr.edu |url=https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7416.html |access-date=2023-10-25}}{{cite web |title=Camponotus - an overview {{!}} ScienceDirect Topics |website=sciencedirect.com |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/camponotus |access-date=2023-10-25}} The fossil of Allocordyceps baltica, from the Baltic Amber, represents the oldest known fossil of an ant-parasitizing fungus before Ophiocordyceps.{{cite web |title=How a parasitic fungus turns ants into 'zombies' |date=2019-04-18 |website=Animals |language=en |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221045148/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants |archive-date=February 21, 2021 |access-date=2023-10-25}}{{cite journal |last=Poinar |first=George |last2=Maltier |first2=Yves-Marie |date=2021-11-01 |title=Allocordyceps baltica gen. et sp. nov. (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), an ancient fungal parasite of an ant in Baltic amber |journal=Fungal Biology |volume=125 |issue=11 |pages=886–890 |doi=10.1016/j.funbio.2021.06.002 |issn=1878-6146 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1878614621000799}}

File:Carpenter Ant Camponotus novaeboracensis workers.jpg