Number and Food Habit of Springtails on Wild Mushrooms of Three Species of Agarcales

Abstract

Springtails were collected from the fruit bodies of three dominant Agaricales, Lactarius quites, Russula sp. and Clitocybe clavipes, in a mixed forest of Pinus densiflora and Quercus serrata, and their number and gut contents were examined. More than 98.5% of springtails on the basidiocarps were Hypogastrura denisana, while in the soil only 1.4% of the population were occupied by H.denisana. The mean number of H. denisana of each basidiocarp was significantly higher for L. quites than for the other two Agaricales. The means of the number of H. denisana of each basidiocarp for L. quites and Russula sp. were comparable to the number found in an area of 1 m² of the soil. The number of H. denisana did not correlate with the pileus size and the growth stage of basidiocarps.The majority of the gut contents of H. denisana was hyphal materials and basidiospores, the former being more numerous , but their proportions differed depending on the fungal species and growth stage of basidiocarps. The guts of some H .denisana had fragments of litter, hyphae and spores of litter fungi, and basidiospores of fungal species other than those from which the springtails were collected.