LIFE-HISTORY AND ARTHROPOD DISPERSAL OF A COPROPHILOUS-STYLOPAGE

Stylopage anomala, previously known only from the type collection in England, is a member of an increasingly well known assemblage of dung fungi dispersed by arthropods rather than herbivore gut passage. Capilliconidia of S. anomala were commonly found on phoretic gamasid mites of dung beetles collected in Ontario and New Brunswick, Canada, and also on a mite phoretic on a dipteran from Wyoming. Sappinia pedata, an amoeba preyed upon by S. anomala, has an adhesive stage that resists desiccation and can be dispersed by phoretic mites. Stylopage anomala and Sappinia pedata also have been found to occur together on cow and horse dung in Belgium.