Symbiotaphrina is a genus including seven species of fungi in the monotypic family Symbiotaphrinaceae and the monotypic order Symbiotaphrinales .
The family and order were published in 2018 to contain the genus.
Sexual states of Symbiotaphrina species (formerly included in the discomycete genus Tromeropsis) are black disk-shaped apothecia with multi-spored asci, and one-celled, unpigmented ascospores. The apothecia can be revived for several years after they have been dry.
The asexual states of Symbiotraphrina species are yeast-like endosymbionts of Anobiid beetles (e.g. the cigarette beetle Lasioderma and the related Stegobium). The ellipsoidal yeast cells have monopolar budding.[1] A few species also have mycelial asexual states with conidium-producing pores ("phialides") in somatic hyphae.
Symbiotaphrina species can be found on dry, decayed wood. A few live in Anobiid beetles in a specialized structure (a "mycetome") between the fore- and mid-gut. Cells are transmitted between host generations when adults rub them onto egg surfaces eaten by hatched larvae. These fungi assist beetles with B-vitamin biosynthesis, fatty acid and sterol metabolism, and break down flavonoids and other toxins.[2]
Symbiotic Symbiotaphrina species can be isolated in axenic culture by aseptically dissecting beetle guts, spreading them onto agar, with incubation at 26C.[3]
As accepted by Species Fungorum;[4]