Another study suggested that tydeid mites are
fungivorous. DUSO et al., (2005) evidenced this fact in Tydeus caudatus (Duges) through the correlation between this mite and disseminated mildew in the commercial vineyard vegetation, because mite populations on symptomatic leaves were larger than those on asymptomatic leaves.
The nematological analysis nematodes associated with viticulture revealed the present of sixteen kinds of nematode divided according to their diets 4 trophic groups whose phytophagous are the most abundant (Paratylenchus sp., Pratylenchus spp., Tylenchus sp., Tylenchorhynchus sp., Helichotylenchus sp., Scutellonema spp., and Xiphinema sp.), followed by
fungivorous (Aphelenchus sp., Aphelenchoides spp., Ditylenchus spp.
Fungal odour discrimination in two sympatric species of
fungivorous collembolans.
The life history of some species of the genus Dohrniphora have been described by Brown (2010), most of them with saprophagous habits, though there are also known species where the larvae are scavengers,
fungivorous, predators, kleptoparasites, and parasitoids.
The finding of abundant hyphae covering the combs of the analyzed samples of AHBs, supports previous findings that the mite is
fungivorous (Parkinson et al., 1991; Hubert et al., 2003; Zhang and Fan, 2005).
(2003) relate high numbers of
fungivorous nematodes to tough plant tissues that are more easily broken down by fungi rather than bacteria.
Occurrence of predatory and
fungivorous mites in leaf domatia.
Interestingly, Rueda (1989) found rabbit pellets to be a superior diet for Sarasinsula plebia (Fischer, 1868), though this slug is phytophagous rather than
fungivorous.
Spatial and temporal heterogeneity creates windows of opportunity and regulates the interactions among plants, fungi, and the
fungivorous microfauna in soil, which at the same time contributes to increase the fungal diversity in arid ecosystems.
Plants and mites frequently engage in a mutualism in which plants provide domatia for predaceous and
fungivorous mites, while mites provide protection against herbivores and pathogenic fungi.