Xerophilic Aspergillaceae Dominate the Communities of Culturable Fungi in the Mound Nests of the Western Thatching Ant ().

The nests of mound-building ants are unexplored reservoirs of fungal diversity. A previous assessment of this diversity in the nests of suggested that water availability may be a determinant of the composition of this mycota. To investigate this question, we recovered 3594 isolates of filamentous Ascomycota from the nests of and adjacent, non-nest sites, employing Dichloran Rose Bengal agar (DRBA), Dichloran Rose Bengal agar containing glycerol (DRBAG), and malt extract agar containing sucrose (MEA20S).