gongylidia

{{Short description|Swellings of fungus cultivated by fungus-growing ants}}

File:Gonglydia staphylae drawing fr.png

Gongylidia (singular gongylidium) are hyphal swellings of fungus cultivated by higher-attine genera of fungus-growing ants. This fungus no longer exists naturally outside the ant colonies.

File:Gonglydia staphylae picture.png]]

Developing larvae feed on the gongylidia and distributed throughout the colony to feed workers, soldiers, and the queen.{{Cite web |last=Raupp |first=Michael J. |date=February 12, 2007 |title=Bug of the Week |url=http://raupplab.umd.edu/raupplab_java/bow-reader.jsp?%2Fwt%2Fraupplab%2Fbugweek%2Farchive%2FBugOfWeek_07B.html |access-date=2019-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720090245/http://raupplab.umd.edu/raupplab_java/bow-reader.jsp?%2Fwt%2Fraupplab%2Fbugweek%2Farchive%2FBugOfWeek_07B.html |archive-date=2011-07-20 |url-status=dead}} They are ellipsoid, about 30–50 micrometres in diameter,{{cite web |last=Gover |first=D. W. |url=http://www.sydneyfungalstudies.org.au/resources/Articles/FUNGAL%20AGRICULTURE%20AND%20ENGINEERING%20IN%20ANTS.pdf |title=Fungal Agriculture and Engineering in Ants}} rich in lipids and carbohydrates derived from the leaves,{{Cite journal |last=Currie |first=Cameron R. |title=A community of Ants, Fungi, and Bacteria: A Multilateral Approach to Studying Symbiosis |journal=Annual Review of Microbiology |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=357–380 |date=October 2001 |doi=10.1146/annurev.micro.55.1.357 |pmid=11544360 |url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/835/annurev.micro.55.1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |accessdate=2021-01-14 |hdl=1808/835 |hdl-access=free}} and are produced in clusters (called staphylae).{{cite web |date= |title=Integrative Biology |publisher=Biosci.utexas.edu |url=http://www.biosci.utexas.edu/ib/faculty/mueller/pubs/resolve.pdf |accessdate=2015-11-06}}