Evaluating the tradeoffs of a generalist parasitoid fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, on different sympatric ant hosts

It is essential for the survival and reproduction of parasitoids to adapt to the fluctuating host resources. Phenotypic plasticity may enable a parasitoid species to successfully achieve its control over a range of host species to maximize fitness in different hosts that may each require dissimilar, possibly conflicting, specific adaptations. However, there is limited information on how the fitness effects of host switching partition into costs due to the novelty of host species, where unfamiliarity with host physiological and morphological changes and its anti-parasite defenses reduces parasitoid growth, survivorship and/or reproductive success. In this study, the parasitoid fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato was found to sympatrically infect a principal host ant species and other alternative sympatric hosts in the forest of central Taiwan. We herein report that the occurrence of ant infections by O. unilateralis s.l. shows spatial and temporal variation patterns on different host species. Results showed that the height from the ground to the leaf where the infected ants grip on, perithecia-forming ability, and growth rate of the stroma of the parasitoid fungus were dissimilar on different host species. These host range expansions not only related the fitness of O. unilateralis s.l. but also influenced the expression of extended phenotypic traits. Our findings revealed that a generalist parasitoid fungus suffered an evolutionary tradeoff between host breadth expansion and host-use efficiency.