A curated global dataset of naturally occurring aphid-fungal associations

As key components of terrestrial ecosystems, fungi play vital roles in ecological processes and functions, and are associated with innumerable plant, vertebrate, and arthropod taxa. Among arthropod taxa, aphids (Hemiptera) are commonly found in both natural and agricultural ecosystems, where some species cause substantial crop damage. Here, we provide a novel and unique dataset, AphidFunga, compiling associations between fungi and aphids extracted from 412 scientific publications, spanning 167 years and covering 85 countries. Fungal and aphid taxonomies were revised to recent nomenclature, whereas association types were updated based on current knowledge. The AphidFunga database currently contains 2993 aphid-fungal association records, linking 365 aphid host taxa (species or genera) with 149 fungal taxa, 95% of which are entomopathogenic. The database is available in three formats: a combined comma-separated data table, a set of R data frames, and a MySQL relational database. The AphidFunga database lays the foundation for further research on fungus-mediated ecosystem processes and functions, and supports conservation science, policy development, and applications in crop protection and environmental management.