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Temporary parasitism by individual of the wood-decaying basidiomycete Lenzites betulina allows them to gain selective access to wood occupied by populations of pioneer basidiomycete colonisers in the genus Coriolus. Pseudotrametes gibbosa is similarly temporarily parasitic on species of Bjerkandera. This strategy facilitates possession by the parasites of a large mycelial domain, which in turn allows them to produce large sporophores with a high reproductive output. This behaviour strongly resembles that of strangler figs and temporary social parasitism in ants.