scholarly journals Deep-time parallel evolution of myrmecoid syndrome in rove beetle symbionts of army ants

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munetoshi Maruyama ◽  
Joseph Parker
Keyword(s):  
Parallel Evolution ◽  
Army Ants ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Rove Beetles ◽  
Army Ant ◽  
Rove Beetle ◽  
Arthropod Predators ◽  
Adaptive Radiations ◽  
Ecological Dominance ◽  
Temporary Nest

Recent adaptive radiations provide striking examples of convergence, but the predictability of evolution over much deeper timescales is controversial, due to a scarcity of ancient clades exhibiting repetitive patterns of phenotypic evolution. Army ants are ecologically dominant arthropod predators of the world's tropics, with large nomadic colonies housing diverse communities of socially parasitic myrmecophiles. Remarkable among these are many species of rove beetle (Staphylinidae) that exhibit ant-mimicking “myrmecoid” body forms and are behaviorally accepted into their aggressive hosts' societies: emigrating with colonies and inhabiting temporary nest bivouacs, grooming and feeding with workers, but also consuming the brood. Here we demonstrate that myrmecoid rove beetles are strongly polyphyletic, with this novel adaptive morphological and behavioral syndrome having evolved at least twelve times during the evolution of a single staphylinid subfamily, Aleocharinae. Each independent myrmecoid clade is restricted to one zoogeographic region and highly host-specific on a single army ant genus. Dating estimates reveal that myrmecoid clades are separated by substantial phylogenetic distances—as much as 105 million years (My). All such groups arose in parallel during the Cenozoic, as army ants are proposed to have risen to ecological dominance. This work uncovers a rare example of an ancient system of complex morphological and behavioral convergence, with replicate beetle lineages following a predictable phenotypic trajectory during their parasitic coevolution with army ants.

scholarly journals The adaptive significance of phasic colony cycles in army ants

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Garnier ◽  
Daniel J. C. Kronauer
Keyword(s):  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Brood Care ◽  
Army Ants ◽  
Army Ant ◽  
Arthropod Predators ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Resource Exhaustion ◽  
Reproductive Cycles ◽  
Reproductive Phases

AbstractArmy ants are top arthropod predators in tropical forests around the world. The colonies of many army ant species undergo stereotypical behavioral and reproductive cycles, alternating between brood care and reproductive phases. In the brood care phase, colonies contain a cohort of larvae that are synchronized in their development and have to be fed. In the reproductive phase larvae are absent and oviposition takes place. Despite these colony cycles being a striking feature of army ant biology, their adaptive significance is unclear. Here we use a modelling approach to show that cyclic reproduction is favored under conditions where per capita foraging costs decrease with the number of larvae in a colony ("High Cost of Entry" scenario), while continuous reproduction is favored under conditions where per capita foraging costs increase with the number of larvae ("Resource Exhaustion" scenario). We argue that the former scenario specifically applies to army ants, because large raiding parties are required to overpower prey colonies. However, once raiding is successful it provides abundant food for a large cohort of larvae. The latter scenario, on the other hand, will apply to non-army ants, because in those species local resource depletion will force workers to forage over larger distances to feed large larval cohorts. Our model provides the first quantitative framework for understanding the adaptive value of phasic colony cycles in ants.

scholarly journals Deep-Time Convergence in Rove Beetle Symbionts of Army Ants

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 920-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munetoshi Maruyama ◽  
Joseph Parker
Keyword(s):  
Army Ants ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Rove Beetle

scholarly journals Parsing parallel evolution: ecological divergence and differential gene expression in the adaptive radiations of thick-lipped Midas cichlid fishes from Nicaragua

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 650-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tereza Manousaki ◽  
Pincelli M. Hull ◽  
Henrik Kusche ◽  
Gonzalo Machado-Schiaffino ◽  
Paolo Franchini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Differential Gene Expression ◽  
Parallel Evolution ◽  
Ecological Divergence ◽  
Cichlid Fishes ◽  
Adaptive Radiations ◽  
Differential Gene

A second fossil species of the enigmatic rove beetle genus Charhyphus in Eocene Baltic amber, with implications on the morphology of the female genitalia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Phloeocharinae)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Shûhei YAMAMOTO ◽  
Alexey V. SHAVRIN ◽  
Kristaps KAIRIŠS
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Body Part ◽  
The Body ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Micro Computed Tomography ◽  
Single Male ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Rove Beetles ◽  
Rove Beetle ◽  
Extant Species

ABSTRACT Phloeocharinae is a small and likely non-monophyletic subfamily of rove beetles. The enigmatic genus Charhyphus Sharp, 1887 has long been placed in Phloeocharinae, whereas recent studies have found it to be phylogenetically very distant from the core members of this subfamily, suggesting the possibility that it actually deserves its own separate subfamily status. So far, the sole definitive fossil record for Charhyphus is known based on a single male from Eocene Baltic amber as represented by †Charhyphus balticus Shavrin, 2020. Here, we describe and illustrate another new Charhyphus species, †Charhyphus serratus sp. nov. Yamamoto & Shavrin, from Baltic amber based on a well-preserved female fossil. Considering the general proportions of the body and the head, this new species is most similar to †C. balticus. The new species differs from all known species by the development of strong serration of the lateral edges of the pronotum and features of the shape of the apical margin of the mesoventrite. By using X-ray micro-computed tomography, we succeeded in visualising not only the general habitus but also each individual body part, recovering a previously undocumented sclerite on the female internal genital segments in the genus. Morphological features of extinct and extant species of Charhyphus are briefly discussed. Figures of all extant Charhyphus species and a key for the genus are also provided. Our study is important for considering possible higher palaeodiversity, more common occurrence, and palaeobiogeography of Charhyphus.

scholarly journals Comparative chemical analysis of army ant mandibular gland volatiles (Formicidae: Dorylinae)

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Brückner ◽  
Philipp O. Hoenle ◽  
Christoph von Beeren
Keyword(s):  
Solid Phase ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Mandibular Gland ◽  
Army Ants ◽  
Army Ant ◽  
Alarm Communication ◽  
Gland Volatiles ◽  
Precise Role ◽  
Mandibular Gland Secretions

Army ants are keystone species in many tropical ecosystems. Yet, little is known about the chemical compounds involved in army ant communication. In the present study, we analyzed the volatile mandibular gland secretions—triggers of ant alarm responses—of six Neotropical army ant species of the genus Eciton (outgroup: Nomamyrmex esenbeckii). Using solid-phase microextraction, we identified 12 chemical compounds, primarily ketones with associated alcohols, one ester and skatole. Most compounds were shared among species, but their relative composition was significantly different. By comparing chemical distances of mandibular gland secretions to species divergence times, we showed that the secretions’ compositions are not strictly determined by phylogeny. By identifying chemical bouquets of seven army ant species, our study provides a valuable comparative resource for future studies aiming to unveil the chemicals’ precise role in army ant alarm communication.

scholarly journals Contribution to the knowledge of the arthropods community inhabiting the winter-flooded meadows (marcite) of northern Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Della Rocca ◽  
Silvia Stefanelli ◽  
Elisa Cardarelli ◽  
Giuseppe Bogliani ◽  
Francesco Bracco
Keyword(s):  
Ground Beetle ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Beetle Species ◽  
Rove Beetles ◽  
Invertebrate Conservation ◽  
Rove Beetle ◽  
Natural Grasslands

Flooded semi-natural grasslands are endangered ecosystems throughout Europe. In Italy, amongst flooded meadows, one special type called “marcita” is strongly threatened. It is a stable flooded grassland used to produce green forage even during winter months due to the thermal properties of water coming from springs and fountains that prevent the soil from freezing. To date, some research has been carried out to investigate the role of the marcita for ornithological and herpetological communities. However, no comprehensive data on invertebrates inhabiting this particular biotope available. The aim of this study was to characterise the terrestrial entomological community of these typical winter-flooded meadows in northern Italy and, in particular, in six marcita fields located in the Ticino Valley Regional Park. We collected data on species richness and diversity of Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Araneae, Lepidoptera and Orthoptera inhabiting marcita during the summers of 2014 and 2015 and data on overwintering Coleoptera during the winter of 2014-2015. Amongst the collected species, we identified those highly linked to this habitat. We found a total of 47 ground beetle species, 35 rove beetle species, 29 spider species, one Lucanidae, 16 butterfly species and 24 grasshopper and cricket species. Most of the species were collected during the summers of 2014 and 2015, while some others were also, or exclusively, overwintering (17 ground beetles, four rove beetles and one Lucanidae) and were collected during the winter of 2014-2015. Marcita fields hosted specialised species and species typical of hygrophilous habitats, amongst which are included the butterfly Lycaena dispar, the ground beetle Dolichus halensis and the grasshopper Chrysochraon dispar. This study represents the first contribution to the knowledge of terrestrial arthropod communities associated with this particular type of winter-irrigated meadow in Europe and confirms the importance of this biotope for invertebrate conservation in agricultural landscapes.

scholarly journals Colony expansions underlie the evolution of army ant mass raiding

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (22) ◽  
pp. e2026534118
Author(s):  
Vikram Chandra ◽  
Asaf Gal ◽  
Daniel J. C. Kronauer
Keyword(s):  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Colony Size ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Close Relative ◽  
Army Ants ◽  
Army Ant ◽  
Cooperative Hunting ◽  
Behavioral Rules ◽  
Behavioral Interaction ◽  
Collective Phenomenon

The mass raids of army ants are an iconic collective phenomenon, in which many thousands of ants spontaneously leave their nest to hunt for food, mostly other arthropods. While the structure and ecology of these raids have been relatively well studied, how army ants evolved such complex cooperative behavior is not understood. Here, we show that army ant mass raiding has evolved from a different form of cooperative hunting called group raiding, in which a scout directs a small group of ants to a specific target through chemical communication. We describe the structure of group raids in the clonal raider ant, a close relative of army ants in the subfamily Dorylinae. We find evidence that the coarse structure of group raids and mass raids is highly conserved and that all doryline ants likely follow similar behavioral rules for raiding. We also find that the evolution of army ant mass raiding occurred concurrently with expansions in colony size. By experimentally increasing colony size in the clonal raider ant, we show that mass raiding gradually emerges from group raiding without altering individual behavioral rules. This suggests that increasing colony size can explain the evolution of army ant mass raids and supports the idea that complex social behaviors may evolve via mechanisms that need not alter the behavioral interaction rules that immediately underlie the collective behavior of interest.

Notizen: Volatiles from the Defensive Secretions of Two Rove Beetle Species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

1986 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konrad Dettner ◽  
Gerhard Schwinger
Keyword(s):  
Defensive Secretion ◽  
Beetle Species ◽  
Defensive Secretions ◽  
Rove Beetles ◽  
Rove Beetle ◽  
First Time

From the defensive secretion of the rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) Ontholestes murinus (L.) and Xantholinus glaber (Norden) nine volatiles have been identified by GC-MS data. From O. murinus a spiroketal was recorded for the first time from an arthropod defensive secretion. X . glaber has been found to represent the first staphylinid sequestering the monoterpenes limonen and isopulegol.

scholarly journals Rapid Initial Morphospace Expansion and Delayed Morphological Disparity Peak in the First 100 Million Years of the Archosauromorph Evolutionary Radiation

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Foth ◽  
Roland B. Sookias ◽  
Martín D. Ezcurra
Keyword(s):  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Morphological Disparity ◽  
Initial Correlation ◽  
Rates Of Evolution ◽  
Burst Pattern ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
Adaptive Radiations

Adaptive radiations have played a major role in generating modern and deep-time biodiversity. The Triassic radiation of the Archosauromorpha was one of the most spectacular vertebrate radiations, giving rise to many highly ecomorphologically varied lineages—including the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and stem-crocodylians—that dominated the larger-bodied land fauna for the following 150 Ma, and ultimately gave rise to today’s > 10,000 species of birds and crocodylians. This radiation provides an outstanding testbed for hypotheses relating to adaptive radiations more broadly. Recent studies have started to characterize the tempo and mode of the archosauromorph early adaptive radiation, indicating very high initial rates of evolution, non-competitive niche-filling processes, and previously unrecognized morphological disparity even among non-crown taxa. However, these analyses rested primarily either on discrete characters or on geometric morphometrics of the cranium only, or even failed to fully include phylogenetic information. Here we expand previous 2D geometric morphometric cranial datasets to include new taxa and reconstructions, and create an analogous dataset of the pelvis, thereby allowing comparison of anatomical regions and the transition from “sprawling” to “upright” posture to be examined. We estimated morphological disparity and evolutionary rates through time. All sampled clades showed a delayed disparity peak for sum of variances and average nearest neighbor distances in both the cranium and pelvis, with disparity likely not saturated by the end of the studied time span (Late Jurassic); this contrasts with smaller radiations, but lends weight to similar results for large, ecomorphologically-varied groups. We find lower variations in pelvic than cranial disparity among Triassic-Jurassic archosaurs, which may be related to greater morphofunctional constraints on the pelvis. Contrasting with some previous work, but also confirming some previous findings during adaptive radiations, we find relatively widespread evidence of correlation between sampled diversity and disparity, especially at the largest phylogenetic scales and using average displacement rather than sum of variances as disparity metric; this also demonstrates the importance of comparing disparity metrics, and the importance of phylogenetic scale. Stem and crown archosauromorphs show a morphological diversification of both the cranium and pelvis with higher initial rates (Permian–Middle Triassic and at the base of major clades) followed by lower rates once diversification into niches has occurred (Late Triassic–Jurassic), indicating an “early burst” pattern sensu lato. Our results provide a more detailed and comprehensive picture of the early archosauromorph radiation and have significant bearing on the understanding of deep-time adaptive radiations more broadly, indicating widespread patterns of delayed disparity peaks, initial correlation of diversity and disparity, and evolutionary early bursts.

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