THE GUILD OF SAPROBIONTIC NEMATODES ASSOCIATED WITH ANTS (FORMICOIDEA)

Autor: Walter Sudhaus
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Ecologica Montenegrina. 7:600-613
ISSN: 2336-9744
2337-0173
Popis: At least 14 different saprobiontic species of Rhabditida are intimately associated with ants on different continents. These myrmecophilous nematodes belong in particular to Diploscapter and Sclerorhabditis , and to the Oscheius Dolichura group (all "Rhabditidae"). Species of Diplogastridae and Halicephalobus (Panagrolaimidae) are rarely found in association with ants, but some records do exist . Oscheius janeti is argued here to be a separate species. Dauerlarvae of all these species invade the postpharyngeal glands of ants via the mouth (including as a result of trophallaxis) and, after some time and under suitable conditions, leave them the opposite way to complete their life cycle. These species usually propagate in the debris of ants' nests using ants as a means of dispersal (endophoresis). Species which live in certain saprobic biochores (such as slime flux) frequented by ants enter the ants to survive the unfavourable conditions of their habitat. Mostly the infestation rate is very low. Most field-collected ants contain no nematodes, and more than ten specimens are rarely found in one ant. The infestation rate increases in formicaria in the laboratory. There are some indications that dauerlarvae obtain nutrients from the carrier/host, so they may perhaps be viewed as facultatively larval parasitic. Queens, which have the potential to found a new colony, have also been documented to be infested. New nematode records from Solenopsis, from Azteca in domatia of Tococa (Melastomataceae) and Cecropia (Urticaceae), from Crematogaster in domatia of Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae), and from the fungus-growing Acromyrmex and Atta are reported . The nematode-ant relationship and distinctive organ specificity of the dauerlarvae to the postpharyngeal glands of ants has been attained by convergent evolution no less than nine times. It is expected that living together with saprobiontic nematodes in m yrmecophilous plants offers some kind of benefit to ants.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: