Allocordyceps

Allocordyceps is an extinct genus of parasitic fungus in the order Hypocreales that parasitized carpenter ants.^[1][2] The fossil of Allocordyceps baltica, from the Baltic Amber, represents the oldest known fossil of an ant-parasitizing fungus before Ophiocordyceps.^[3][4]

Carpenter ants, similar to the host parasitized by A. baltica

Allocordyceps Temporal range: Middle Eocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Restoration of A. baltica on Camponotus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Sordariomycetes
Order:	Hypocreales
Family:	Clavicipitaceae
Genus:	Allocordyceps Poinar
Type species
Allocordyceps baltica Poinar

Description

Allocordyceps is characterized by its ascoma being an orange color, stalked and cusp shaped. It also has a pair of partially immersed perithecia that emerges from the rectum. Hosts parasitized by Allocordyceps have separate stromata with separate mycelium emerging from the neck and abdomen.^[4] It may have altered its host's behavior similarly to the extant Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.