Received: 26 November 2018 | Revised: 30 January 2019 | Accepted: 1 February 2019 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5010 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Bacterial communities within Phengaris (Maculinea) alcon caterpillars are shifted following transition from solitary living to social parasitism of Myrmica ant colonies Mark A. Szenteczki1 | Camille Pitteloud1 | Luca P. Casacci2,3 | Lucie Kešnerová4 | Melissa R.L. Whitaker5 | Philipp Engel4 | Roger Vila6* | Nadir Alvarez1,7* 1Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland 2Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland 3Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy 4Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland 5Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 6Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC‐UPF), Barcelona, Spain 7Unit of Research and Collections, Museum of Natural History, Geneva, Switzerland Correspondence Mark A. Szenteczki, Laboratory of Functional Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Email:
[email protected] Nadir Alvarez, Unit of Research and Collection, Museum of Natural History, Geneva, Switzerland. Email: nadir.alvarez@ville‐ge.ch Present Address Camille Pitteloud, Department of Environmental Systems Sciences, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETHZ, Zürich, Switzerland Funding information AEI/FEDER, UE, Grant/Award Number: Abstract CGL2016‐76322‐P; Université de Bacterial symbionts are known