Endosymbioses
of
Fungi - Symbionts are never present in insects that have a nutritionally complete diet, but are present in all insects that have a nutritionally deficient diet during their developmental stages.
Thus no carnivorous insect has symbionts, where those living of blood or plant sap all contain symbionts. The main function of symbionts to provide one or more growth factor to the insect host that is absent from its diet.
There
are
some
exceptions,
however,
as
in
mosquitoes.
The
endosymbionts
are
both
bacteria
and
yeasts.
In
Rhodnius,
symbiont
is
an
actinomycete
of
the
genus
Nocardia.
