A commensalism between Piper marginatum Jacq. (Piperaceae) and a coccinellid beetle at Barro Colorado Island, Panama
| Autor: | Wyatt Williams, Lee A. Dyer, Deborah K. Letourneau, Craig D. Dodson |
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| Rok vydání: | 1999 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Tropical Ecology. 15:841-846 |
| ISSN: | 1469-7831 0266-4674 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0266467499001212 |
| Popis: | The plants in the genus Piper (Piperaceae) with hollow petioles (sheathing leaf bases) are very amenable to symbioses with invertebrates. The mutualisms between several Piper species and resident Pheidole bicornis Forel (Formicidae) ants are well-documented (Letourneau 1983, 1990, 1991, 1998; Letourneau & Dyer 1998a, b; Risch & Rickson 1981; Risch et al. 1977), but many other invertebrates, including other species of ants and specialized predators of Pheidole, are also petiole residents (Letourneau 1990, 1991; L. Dyer & D. Letourneau pers. obs.). Gathering more natural history data on these additional associations could be useful for understanding the ecology and evolution of plant-ant mutualisms. We have observed an interesting symbiosis between Piper marginatumn Jacq. and an unknown coccinellid beetle that may be relevant to understanding established Piper-Pheidole mutualisms. In this note, we compare our observations of P. marginatum chemistry, herbivory, ant associations and beetle associations to our published data on the same aspects of Piper ant-plants. Piper marginatum is a gap-inhabiting shrub that occurs from Guatemala to Ecuador and in Brazil and the West Indies; it has hollow petioles but no known associations with ants or other arthropods (Burger 1971). Piper ant-plants are |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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