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Diapriinae Wasps (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea: Diapriidae) Associated with Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Argentina

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Diapriinae Wasps (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea: Diapriidae) Associated with Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Argentina Hindawi Publishing Corporation Psyche Volume 2013, Article ID 320590, 11 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/320590 Review Article Diapriinae Wasps (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea: Diapriidae) Associated with Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Argentina Marta S. Loiácono,1 Cecilia B. Margaría,1,2 and Daniel A. Aquino1 1 Division´ Entomolog´ıa, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina Correspondence should be addressed to Marta S. Loiacono;´ [email protected] Received 19 December 2012; Revised 15 February 2013; Accepted 20 February 2013 Academic Editor: Jean-Paul Lachaud Copyright © 2013 Marta S. Loiacono´ et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. We provide an overview of diapriid wasps associated with ants in Argentina and the diversity of interactions they have developed with their hosts. As a result, we report 16 species of nine genera of Diapriinae, two new geographic distributions, three new association records, illustrations, and photographs. We highlight myrmecophile symphylic species, with a high degree of integration with the host ants, adaptation being morphological and behavioral. A table with diapriid species and ant hosts is given. 1. Introduction byhostants.Antsseemtohavepreferencetolickcertainparts of diapriid body to get exudates [2]. The adaptations include Diapriids are primary endoparasitoids of larvae-pupae or secondary apterism in which the wings of wasps are bitten pupae, principally of dipterans, but a number of species are off by either the parasite itself or its host. During the alate closely associated with ant nests. However, there are few phase, the adults probably disperse, as the alate individuals, behavioral data on host-diapriid myrmecophile interactions. caught by sweeping, in Malaise traps and significantly by light Huggert and Masner [1] hypothesized that the ancestors of traps indicating also the nocturnal activity in this phase of diapriines guests changed from Diptera to Formicidae. The life [2]. The secondary apterism occurs in several species of intermediates in the presumed sequence of hosts seem to diapriines, for example, Asolenopsia rufa Kieffer, Bruchopria be the numerous synoeketic Diptera living in the refuse pentatoma Kieffer, Bruchopria hexatoma Kieffer, Notoxoides depot and bivouacs of various army ants of the subfamily pronotalis (Borgmeier), herein studied. Ecitoninae. Diapriines females, in the search for potential The current knowledge indicates that only a few diapri- hosts, would have progressively integrated with formicids. ids are parasitoids of ant brood, attacking as solitary or According to Masner (personal communication) this change gregarious koinobiont endoparasitoids of the host larvae, would have occurred more frequently in the Neotropi- and worker and/or reproductive immature stages can be calregionwheretheseantshavehighdistribution.The parasitized. From 121 diapriine species in 34 genera that guests switch mechanism has determined morphological and behavioral specialization, manifested by the degree of had been collected in association with ants, development integration of diapriines to ant colonies. These symphyles are of immature stages as parasitoids of ant larvae has been often highly adapted to their hosts, exhibiting morphological demonstrated for only 26 species in seven genera, most of and behavioral adaptations to living with ants (extensive which are only known at the level of morphospecies [3]. morphological mimicry of the host ants coloration, ocellus There are only two species and one morphospecies recorded regression, similar sculpture, presence of appeasement sub- in Argentina as ant parasitoids [4]. stances in specialized structures and trichomes, trophallaxis, A large number of diapriine wasps became associated etc.), which aid them in avoiding detection and/or aggression withvariousgroupsofantsinCentralandSouthAmerica. 2 Psyche The associations are especially well developed with army the diversity of interactions they have developed with their ants (Ecitonini) and leaf cutting ants (Attini) with some 20 hosts. genera of Diapriinae already involved [5]. The vast majority of these species belong to Diapriini, although there are some 2. Material and Methods exceptions like Bruchopria species that belong to the tribe Spilomicrini [6]. Specimens for this study were reared in laboratory [4]orcol- The New World fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera: lected from ant nests, killed in alcohol, and mounted on cards Formicidae: Attini) are especially diverse in the tropics. As or microscopic slides for further studies. Observations of true for the most social insects, they accumulate significant the specimens were made through a stereomicroscope Leica stores of resources within their nests, attracting a diverse S8APO. The photographs were taken by Daniel A. Aquino array of predators, microbial pathogens, and parasites [7]. We with a Leica DFC295 camera attached to the stereomicro- studiedaspectsoftheintensityandprevalenceoftheselittle- scope. Digital images were mounted using open software CombineZM [30] and enhanced using Photoshop. Scanning known diapriine wasps that attack the larvae of the fungus- micrographs were taken with a JEOL JSMT100 at Museo de growing ant, Acromyrmex lobicornis Emery, and noted a La Plata operating at 15 KV. remarkably diverse community of parasitoids within host Sharkey [31] was followed for the higher-level phylogeny population from four localities of La Pampa, Argentina [4, 8]. of the Hymenoptera order, Bolton for ant valid names [32], In some cases, the rates of parasitoidism can reach high levels. Masner and Garc´ıa [5] for diapriid systematics, and Yoder et Loiacono´ et al. [4] collected 1560 wasps (adults and imma- al. web site [33] for interactive keys and links. tures) from 430 parasitized larvae from three partial colonies Diapriid and ant specimens examined in this study are of Acromyrmex, which shows how prevalent these wasps can deposited at Museo de La Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina). be in attacking the ants. Fernandez-Marin´ et al. [9]found Most of them were collected and determined by Bruch that between 27% and 70% of the colonies of two species andOgloblininArgentina.TypematerialofSzelenyiopria of Cyphomyrmex Mayr were parasitized by one species in reinchenspergeri (Ferriere)` was loan by Hungarian Natural Puerto Rico and by up to four concurrent morphospecies History Museum. of diapriids in Panama. Similarly, Perez-Ortega´ et al. [7] Biology Section includes “hosts” wasps emerged from reported that another fungus-growing ant, Trachymyrmex cf. antlarvaeor“associated”waspsfoundinornearnestsor zeteki, was attacked by a diverse community of diapriids in emigration columns of army ants. Panama, with a mean intensity of larval parasitism per ant colony of 33.9%, and prevalence across all ant populations of 3. Results 27.2%. Lachaud and Perez´ Lachaud [3], based on the abun- dance and success in attacking ants, considered that diapriids 3.1. Tribe Diapriini Ashmead, 1893 [34] and another group of microhymenopterans, the eucharitids, seem excellent potential models to explore how parasitoids 3.1.1. Asolenopsia Kieffer, 192112 [ ]. Asolenopsia Kieffer, impact ant colony demography, population biology, and ant 1921: 36 [12]. community structure [3]. Euplacopria Ferriere,` 1929: 157 [35]. In Argentina, the study of myrmecophiles has attracted the attention of several scientists in the last two centuries. Distribution. Tropical lowlands of Central and South America Carlos Bruch (1869–1943), a German naturalist selected by [5]. F. Moreno—first Director of Museo de La Plata—to organize Biology. Associated with ecitonini ants of genus Eciton its collections, was a pioneer of the entomological studies; Latreille, Labidus Jurine and Neivamyrmex Borgmeier [5]. it is important to remark his ability as a photographer and scientific illustrator, and his observations regarding special Remarks. Members of Asolenopsia are moderately to highly associations and behaviors of ants and beetles: termitophily specialized associates to ecitonine ants [20]. Their wings are and myrmecophily [10, 11]. Jean-Jacques Kieffer (1857–1925), primarily developed but subsequently bitten off by ants or aFrenchentomologistwhospecializedinthestudyof cast off spontaneously (alectomy). Winged adults are also parasitoids of insects, based his studies on Bruch’s material collected in light traps [5]. and published articles about diapriines associated with ants [12, 13]. Alejandro Ogloblin (1891–1967), a Russian ento- 3.1.2. Asolenopsia rufa Kieffer, 1921 [12](Figure 1(a)). mologist researcher at “Estacion´ Experimental de Loreto” Asolenopsia rufa Kieffer, 1921: 37 [12]. (Misiones, Argentina), collected there numerous diapriid wasps associated specially with myrmicine ants [14, 15]. Distribution. Argentina (Cordoba,´ Entre R´ıos, and Santa Fe) Luis De Santis (1914–2000) catalogued associations between [12, 17]. diapriids and ants [16, 17] and reported new geographic Biology. Associated with Neivamyrmex carettei (Forel) [12] distributions [18]. Marta Loiacono´ and colleagues studied (Figure 1(b)). Neotropical myrmecophiles diapriids and their interactions with ants [4, 7, 8, 15, 19–29]. Material
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