Our Beetlehangers paper was finally published in a special issue of Arthropod-Plant Interactions! This project has been ongoing since 2017 when Danny met two high school students Fred and Jeff Pan and their mother Fang Yu. The four of us started working on a dataset of – at that time – Hesperomyces virescens records from the invasive alien ladybird Harmonia axyridis in North America and developed a precursor version of the current website, https://beetlehangers.org/. Records came from the literature and from online citizen science data portals, including iNaturalist.

Over time, the project expanded to incorporating records from the world. In addition, STSM fellow Maria Christou and PhD student Michiel de Groot retrieved records from pan-European citizen science initiatives, national organizations, and societies. Currently, our Beetlehangers database holds 7,845 records of – now – Hesperomyces harmoniae. It was only in 2022 that the fungus was formally described as a species in the Hesperomyces virescens complex, based on an integrative taxonomy approach involving the use of morphology, DNA, species delimitation methods, and host association: Hesperomyces harmoniae, uniquely associated with Harmonia axyridis. Some of the records in the paper represent new country records, both for the fungus and its host!

With this work, we want to promote research on this common fungus of Harmonia axyridis, increase common knowledge and interest in the utility of citizen science records of fungi, and continue to increase records including in poorly studied areas with the help of targeted social media campaigns. Keep an eye on the website as we will be launching a new citizen science campaign later this year! 

Sources 

de Groot MD, Christou M, Pan JY, Adriaens T, Maes D, Martinou AF, Roy HE, Verbeken A, Haelewaters D. Beetlehangers.org: harmonizing host–parasite records of Harmonia axyridis and Hesperomyces harmoniae. Arthropod-Plant Interactions (in press). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-023-10037-2 

Haelewaters D, Van Caenegem W, De Kesel A. 2022. Hesperomyces harmoniae, a new name for a common ectoparasitic fungus on the invasive alien ladybird Harmonia axyridis. Sydowia 75: 53-74. https://doi.org/10.12905/0380.sydowia75-2022-053