The Coexistence
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ABSTRACT We Present Here a List of the Attini Type Material Deposited In
Volume 45(4):41-50, 2005 THE TYPE SPECIMENS OF FUNGUS GROWING ANTS, ATTINI (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE, MYRMICINAE) DEPOSITED IN THE MUSEU DE ZOOLOGIA DA UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL CHRISTIANA KLINGENBERG1,2 CARLOS ROBERTO F. B RANDÃO1 ABSTRACT We present here a list of the Attini type material deposited in the Formicidae collection of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZSP), Brazil. In total, the Attini (fungus-growing and leaf- cutting ants) collection includes types of 105 nominal species, of which 74 are still valid, whereas 31 are considered synonyms. The majority of the types in the MZSP collection are syntypes (74), but in the collection there are 4 species represented only by holotypes, 12 by holotypes and paratypes, 13 species only by paratypes, and 2 species by the lectotype and one paralectotype as well. All holotypes and paratypes refer to valid species. The aim of this type list is to facilitate consultation and to encourage further revisionary studies of the Attini genera. KEYWORDS: Insects, Hymenoptera, Myrmicinae, Attini, types, MZSP. INTRODUCTION Forel, F. Santschi, and in a lesser extent, to/with William M. Wheeler, Gustav Mayr, Carlo Menozzi, and Marion The Formicidae collection housed in the Museu R. Smith. Several species collected in Brazil were named de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZSP) is by these authors, who often sent back to São Paulo one of the most representative for the Neotropical type specimens. In 1939, the Zoological section of the region in number of types and ant species, as well as Museu Paulista was transferred to the São Paulo State for the geographic coverage. -
The Functions and Evolution of Social Fluid Exchange in Ant Colonies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Marie-Pierre Meurville & Adria C
ISSN 1997-3500 Myrmecological News myrmecologicalnews.org Myrmecol. News 31: 1-30 doi: 10.25849/myrmecol.news_031:001 13 January 2021 Review Article Trophallaxis: the functions and evolution of social fluid exchange in ant colonies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Marie-Pierre Meurville & Adria C. LeBoeuf Abstract Trophallaxis is a complex social fluid exchange emblematic of social insects and of ants in particular. Trophallaxis behaviors are present in approximately half of all ant genera, distributed over 11 subfamilies. Across biological life, intra- and inter-species exchanged fluids tend to occur in only the most fitness-relevant behavioral contexts, typically transmitting endogenously produced molecules adapted to exert influence on the receiver’s physiology or behavior. Despite this, many aspects of trophallaxis remain poorly understood, such as the prevalence of the different forms of trophallaxis, the components transmitted, their roles in colony physiology and how these behaviors have evolved. With this review, we define the forms of trophallaxis observed in ants and bring together current knowledge on the mechanics of trophallaxis, the contents of the fluids transmitted, the contexts in which trophallaxis occurs and the roles these behaviors play in colony life. We identify six contexts where trophallaxis occurs: nourishment, short- and long-term decision making, immune defense, social maintenance, aggression, and inoculation and maintenance of the gut microbiota. Though many ideas have been put forth on the evolution of trophallaxis, our analyses support the idea that stomodeal trophallaxis has become a fixed aspect of colony life primarily in species that drink liquid food and, further, that the adoption of this behavior was key for some lineages in establishing ecological dominance. -
Symbiotic Adaptations in the Fungal Cultivar of Leaf-Cutting Ants
ARTICLE Received 15 Apr 2014 | Accepted 24 Oct 2014 | Published 1 Dec 2014 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6675 Symbiotic adaptations in the fungal cultivar of leaf-cutting ants Henrik H. De Fine Licht1,w, Jacobus J. Boomsma2 & Anders Tunlid1 Centuries of artificial selection have dramatically improved the yield of human agriculture; however, strong directional selection also occurs in natural symbiotic interactions. Fungus- growing attine ants cultivate basidiomycete fungi for food. One cultivar lineage has evolved inflated hyphal tips (gongylidia) that grow in bundles called staphylae, to specifically feed the ants. Here we show extensive regulation and molecular signals of adaptive evolution in gene trancripts associated with gongylidia biosynthesis, morphogenesis and enzymatic plant cell wall degradation in the leaf-cutting ant cultivar Leucoagaricus gongylophorus. Comparative analysis of staphylae growth morphology and transcriptome-wide expressional and nucleotide divergence indicate that gongylidia provide leaf-cutting ants with essential amino acids and plant-degrading enzymes, and that they may have done so for 20–25 million years without much evolutionary change. These molecular traits and signatures of selection imply that staphylae are highly advanced coevolutionary organs that play pivotal roles in the mutualism between leaf-cutting ants and their fungal cultivars. 1 Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biology, Lund University, Ecology Building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden. 2 Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. w Present Address: Section for Organismal Biology, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg, Denmark. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H.H.D.F.L. -
Myrmecological News
ISSN 1994-4136 (print) ISSN 1997-3500 (online) Myrmecological News Volume 26 February 2018 Schriftleitung / editors Florian M. STEINER, Herbert ZETTEL & Birgit C. SCHLICK-STEINER Fachredakteure / subject editors Jens DAUBER, Falko P. DRIJFHOUT, Evan ECONOMO, Heike FELDHAAR, Nicholas J. GOTELLI, Heikki O. HELANTERÄ, Daniel J.C. KRONAUER, John S. LAPOLLA, Philip J. LESTER, Timothy A. LINKSVAYER, Alexander S. MIKHEYEV, Ivette PERFECTO, Christian RABELING, Bernhard RONACHER, Helge SCHLÜNS, Chris R. SMITH, Andrew V. SUAREZ Wissenschaftliche Beratung / editorial advisory board Barry BOLTON, Jacobus J. BOOMSMA, Alfred BUSCHINGER, Daniel CHERIX, Jacques H.C. DELABIE, Katsuyuki EGUCHI, Xavier ESPADALER, Bert HÖLLDOBLER, Ajay NARENDRA, Zhanna REZNIKOVA, Michael J. SAMWAYS, Bernhard SEIFERT, Philip S. WARD Eigentümer, Herausgeber, Verleger / publisher © 2018 Österreichische Gesellschaft für Entomofaunistik c/o Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Burgring 7, 1010 Wien, Österreich (Austria) Myrmecological News 26 65-80 Vienna, February 2018 Natural history and nest architecture of the fungus-farming ant genus Sericomyrmex (Hymeno ptera: Formicidae) Ana JEšOVNIK, Júlio CHAUL & Ted SCHULTZ Abstract The fungus-farming ant genus Sericomyrmex (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) contains 11 species distributed from northern Mexico to southern Brazil. Within their nests, all Sericomyrmex species grow highly specialized, obligately symbiotic fungi, which they use for food. Sericomyrmex is the youngest fungus-farming ant genus, the product of a recent, rapid radiation, with a crown-group age estimate of 4.3 million years. We review the literature and report newly acquired data on the natural history of Sericomyrmex, with a focus on nesting biology. We present data for 19 collected nests (16 complete and three partial excavations) of seven different Sericomyrmex species from Mexico, Costa Rica, Guyana, Peru, and Brazil. -
A Comparative Study of Exocrine Gland Chemistry in Trachymyrmex and Sericomyrmex Fungus-Growing Ants
Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 40 (2012) 91–97 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Biochemical Systematics and Ecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biochemsyseco A comparative study of exocrine gland chemistry in Trachymyrmex and Sericomyrmex fungus-growing ants Rachelle M.M. Adams a,b,*, Tappey H. Jones c, Andrew W. Jeter c, Henrik H. De Fine Licht a,1, Ted R. Schultz b, David R. Nash a a Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark b Department of Entomology and Laboratories of Analytical Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA c Department of Chemistry, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA 24450, USA article info abstract Article history: Ants possess many exocrine glands that produce a variety of compounds important for Received 18 August 2011 chemical communication. Fungus-growing ants, a tribe of over 230 species within the Accepted 8 October 2011 subfamily Myrmicinae, are unique among ants because they cultivate fungus gardens inside their nests as food. Here the chemistry of the exocrine glands of the two genera Keywords: most closely related to the conspicuous leaf-cutting ants are examined. Based on a recent Attini phylogeny of the fungus-growing ants, these genera comprise three clades that together Terpenes link the more basal species to the most derived, leaf-cutting species. The leaf-cutting ants Ketones Farnesenes possess many derived characteristics such as extensive leaf-cutting behavior and massive a,a-Acariolide colony sizes, effectively making them major herbivores in many Neotropical habitats. This is the first comparison of the chemistry of eight Trachymyrmex and one Sericomyrmex species in a phylogenetic context. -
File S1: Biogeography of Genus Sericomyrmex. We Conduct
File S1: Biogeography of genus Sericomyrmex. We conduct ancestral biogeographic range reconstruction, based on a previously published genomic data set. The results of our biogeographic analysis confirm a South American origin of the genus, with the ancestral ranges of two main clades, amabilis and scrobifer, estimated as the Amazon region and Chaco-Brazilian region, respectively. However, statistical support of the nodes is rather low, which is why we chose to include it only in supplemental material of this paper. We hope our study will encourage further investigation of Sericomyrmex ancestral range reconstruction. Methods We used a dated phylogeny of Sericomyrmex, generated in a previous study (JEŠOVNIK & al. 2017), to estimate the historical ranges of Sericomyrmex species. The phylogeny was the product of a BEASTv2.4.1 (BOUCKAERT & al. 2014, DRUMMOND & BOUCKAERT 2015) analysis of a genomic data set consisting of a 88,157-base-pair alignment of 100 ultraconserved-element (UCE) loci and 11 taxa, including 10 Sericomyrmex samples (JEŠOVNIK & al. 2017). The data included one representative of each Sericomyrmex species, sampled based on a larger phylogenomic analysis that included 88 samples. For the paraphyletic species S. amabilis, one representative from each of two populations was included, one from the main S. amabilis population, which is the sister of S. saussurei, and one from the S. amabilis VE population, which is the sister of the clade consisting of the combined main population of S. amabilis and S. saussurei. The phylogeny lacked two species, S. lutzi and S. radioheadi, for which we unfortunately did not have genomic data (JEŠOVNIK & al. 2017). -
The Coexistence
Myrmecological News 13 37-55 2009, Online Earlier Natural history and phylogeny of the fungus-farming ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) Natasha J. MEHDIABADI & Ted R. SCHULTZ Abstract Ants of the tribe Attini comprise a monophyletic group of approximately 230 described and many more undescribed species that obligately depend on the cultivation of fungus for food. In return, the ants nourish, protect, and disperse their fungal cultivars. Although all members of this tribe cultivate fungi, attine ants are surprisingly heterogeneous with regard to symbiont associations and agricultural system, colony size and social structure, nesting behavior, and mating system. This variation is a key reason that the Attini have become a model system for understanding the evolution of complex symbioses. Here, we review the natural-history traits of fungus-growing ants in the context of a recently published phylo- geny, collating patterns of evolution and symbiotic coadaptation in a variety of colony and fungus-gardening traits in a number of major lineages. We discuss the implications of these patterns and suggest future research directions. Key words: Hymenoptera, Formicidae, fungus-growing ants, leafcutter ants, colony life, natural history, evolution, mating, agriculture, review. Myrmecol. News 13: 37-55 (online xxx 2008) ISSN 1994-4136 (print), ISSN 1997-3500 (online) Received 12 June 2009; revision received 24 September 2009; accepted 28 September 2009 Dr. Natasha J. Mehdiabadi* (contact author) & Dr. Ted R. Schultz* (contact author), Department of Entomology and Laboratories of Analytical Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, NHB, CE518, MRC 188, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] * Both authors contributed equally to the work. -
Reconstructing the Functions of Endosymbiotic Mollicutes in Fungus
RESEARCH ARTICLE Reconstructing the functions of endosymbiotic Mollicutes in fungus- growing ants Panagiotis Sapountzis*, Mariya Zhukova, Jonathan Z Shik, Morten Schiott, Jacobus J Boomsma* Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract Mollicutes, a widespread class of bacteria associated with animals and plants, were recently identified as abundant abdominal endosymbionts in healthy workers of attine fungus- farming leaf-cutting ants. We obtained draft genomes of the two most common strains harbored by Panamanian fungus-growing ants. Reconstructions of their functional significance showed that they are independently acquired symbionts, most likely to decompose excess arginine consistent with the farmed fungal cultivars providing this nitrogen-rich amino-acid in variable quantities. Across the attine lineages, the relative abundances of the two Mollicutes strains are associated with the substrate types that foraging workers offer to fungus gardens. One of the symbionts is specific to the leaf-cutting ants and has special genomic machinery to catabolize citrate/glucose into acetate, which appears to deliver direct metabolic energy to the ant workers. Unlike other Mollicutes associated with insect hosts, both attine ant strains have complete phage-defense systems, underlining that they are actively maintained as mutualistic symbionts. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.39209.001 *For correspondence: [email protected] (PS); Introduction [email protected] (JJB) Bacterial endosymbionts, defined here as comprising both intra- and extra-cellular symbionts Competing interests: The (Bourtzis and Miller, 2006), occur in all eukaryotic lineages and range from parasites to mutualists authors declare that no (Bourtzis and Miller, 2006; Martin et al., 2017). -
Periodicos.Uefs.Br
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Portal de Periódicos Eletrônicos da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS) Sociobiology 62(2): 281-295 (June, 2015) DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v62i2.281-295 Sociobiology An international journal on social insects RESEARCH ARTICLE - ANTS Ants of the Panga Ecological Station, a Cerrado Reserve in Central Brazil GP Camacho1, HL Vasconcelos2 1 - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil 2 - Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil Article History Abstract Species lists are an invaluable tool for a more comprehensive analysis of diversity Edited by patterns. Such lists, when derived from a comprehensive sampling effort, can indicate Gilberto M. M. Santos, UEFS, Brazil Received 26 December 2014 the presence of rare, threatened, or ecologically important species. This study aimed to Initial acceptance 16 March 2015 generate a species list of the ants of the Panga Ecological Station, a protected Cerrado Final acceptance 08 April 2015 reserve in southeastern Brazil. This list was generated through taxonomic identification or through unification of the morphospecies codes of all specimens collected at the Keywords reserve in ten different studies since 2003. Information about the types of habitat and Ant inventories, ant diversity, Formicidae, species distribution, Neotropical savannas. strata of occurrence of each species or morphospecies was also compiled. The data presented here represents one of the most intensive ant inventories conducted Corresponding author in the Brazilian Cerrado. We recorded 277 ant species belonging to 58 genera and Gabriela P. Camacho nine subfamilies. This number is 1.63 to 3.69 times higher than the number of species Prog. -
Peter Buck Fellowship Program 2014 - 2015 Progress Report
The Peter Buck Fellowship Program 2014 - 2015 Progress Report Overview This year, the National Museum of Natural History’s Peter Buck Fellowship Program welcomes its fifth class of participants. Reaching this milestone offers a unique perspective, both for reflecting on the Buck Program’s past success and for envisioning the course of its future. Through contributions to research, publications, and educational outreach across all of the Museum’s scientific departments, each class further defines the scope and impact of what it means to be a Peter Buck Fellow. Throughout the Smithsonian and scientific communities, their work is advancing learning about nature and culture—knowledge that ultimately drives solutions for the global challenges we face. For the 67 predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows admitted since the Program began, the experience is a pivotal step in advancing their science careers. The Peter Buck Fellowship Program currently includes a robust group of 34 fellows in residence or anticipated in the next few months. The most recent 14 awardees, selected as the Class of 2015, hail from a variety of academic institutions throughout the United States and beyond. A growing alumni base—currently made up of 27 individuals who have since completed their tenure at the Museum—provides yet another lens for understanding the far-reaching effects of the fellowship experience as they pursue the next phase of their careers. This year also welcomes the first recipients of Buck Fellowships contributing specifically to the goals of two major Museum initiatives. Deep Time fellowship opportunities are aimed at increasing the research, education, and outreach productivity of the Initiative during the period leading up to the opening of the permanent Fossil Hall in 2019. -
A Preliminary Checklist of Soil Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Colombian Amazon
Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e29278 doi: 10.3897/BDJ.6.e29278 Taxonomic Paper A preliminary checklist of soil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Colombian Amazon Daniel Castro‡, Fernando Fernández§, Andrés D Meneses§, Maria C Tocora§, Stepfania Sanchez§, Clara P Peña-Venegas‡ ‡ Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI, Leticia, Colombia § Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia Corresponding author: Daniel Castro ([email protected]) Academic editor: Francisco Hita Garcia Received: 23 Aug 2018 | Accepted: 18 Oct 2018 | Published: 07 Nov 2018 Citation: Castro D, Fernández F, Meneses A, Tocora M, Sanchez S, Peña-Venegas C (2018) A preliminary checklist of soil ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Colombian Amazon. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e29278. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.6.e29278 Abstract Background This paper presents an updated list of soil ants of the Colombian Amazon collected in three different river basins: the Amazon, the Caquetá and the Putumayo. The list includes 10 subfamilies, 60 genera and 218 species collected from TSBF monoliths at four different depths (Litter, 0 - 10 cm, 10 - 20 cm and 20 - 30 cm). This updated list increases considerably the knowledge of edaphic macrofauna of the region, due to the limited published information about soil ant diversity in the Colombian Amazon region. New information This is the first checklist of soil ant diversity of the Colombian Amazon region. Six new records of species for Colombia are exposed: Acropyga tricuspis (LaPolla, 2004), Typhlomyrmex clavicornis (Emery, 1906), Typhlomyrmex meire (Lacau, Villemant & Delabie, 2004), Cyphomyrmex bicornis (Forel, 1895), Megalomyrmex emeryi (Forel, 1904) © Castro D et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. -
Ant Interactions with Soil Organisms and Associated Semiochemicals
J Chem Ecol (2012) 38:728–745 DOI 10.1007/s10886-012-0140-8 REVIEW ARTICLE Ant Interactions with Soil Organisms and Associated Semiochemicals Robert Vander Meer Received: 6 April 2012 /Revised: 3 May 2012 /Accepted: 11 May 2012 /Published online: 1 June 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC (outside the USA) 2012 Abstract This review focuses on the semiochemical inter- and 3. There is an overlap of generations such that offspring actions between ants and their soil environment. Ants occu- assist parents. Insect species exhibiting all of these traits often py virtually every ecological niche and have evolved are referred to as eusocial. Only some highly evolved wasps mechanisms to not just cope with, but also manipulate soil and bees, but all ants and termites are eusocial. Termites are organisms. The metapleural gland, specific to ants was restricted to habitats with cellulose resources, but ants, the thought to be the major source of semiochemical antimicro- subject of this review, have evolved to take advantage of a bial compounds targeting general or specific deleterious wide variety of resources and inhabit virtually every terrestri- microbes. The extremely diverse variety of semiochemicals al/arboreal ecological niche–worldwide. There are over and their sources with antimicrobial activity or potential 14,000 extant described ant species (Hymenoptera: activity is highlighted. The leaf-cutting ants and fire ant Formicidae) in 21 extant and 5 extinct sub-families and 298 provide the most researched species, in part because they genera (see Fig. 1). There are an estimated 8,000 species yet to cause significant economic damage.