Search

Phytotelmata bromeliads provide microhabitats for many organisms and maintain high aquatic diversity within Neotropical forests. However, they are more vulnerable to different environmental stressors that shape community structure. While most studies have been carried out in large rainforests, gaps remain about the bromeliad-dwelling community for the wettest points in the Caatinga domain (Brazilian semiarid region). Here, we investigated the influence of abiotic and temporal variables and bromeliad size on community structure between urban and forest sectors. Between 2014 and 2017, we randomly selected 20 urban and 40 forest bromeliads and compared functional groups of invertebrates for richness, abundance, and diversity. We recorded 41 morphospecies, especially Rotifera (19) and Insecta (13). Urban bromeliads exhibited higher richness of filter-feeder, while forest fragment bromeliads were dominated by predators, shredders, and gatherers. We did not observe differences in community structure regarding bromeliad size. However, the wetter period exhibited higher species richness, and higher diversity was associated with the highest rainfall. This study presents for the first time a list of aquatic microinvertebrate species and the influence of environmental parameters on the community structure associated with bromeliads of Caatinga. We have also expanded the list of species associated with phytotelmata in the Neotropical region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anurans with direct development are among the most difficult species for conducting studies concerning ecology and natural history. This paper provides information on the reproduction of Adelophryne maranguapensis, a threatened species endemic to Serra de Maranguape, an Atlantic Forest relict surrounded by dry Caatinga phytophysiognomies. Our objectives were to identify the reproductive periods, verify any preference for breeding sites, review the reproductive mode and describe parental care. The species reproduces during the rainy season and is not selective as to the species of bromeliad used for oviposition. This is the first report of parental care for the genus since females demonstrate egg attendance until the formation of the gel layer in all the eggs. We revisit the terms that define the reproductive mode of this species and propose the need to redefine it. The redefinition considers: (1) deposition of bromeligen and non-aquatics eggs around the phytotelm; (2) direct development; (3) parental care with egg attendance by the female. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mosquito-borne diseases have been spreading rapidly. Although Aedes sp. are believed to prefer man-made habitats for reproduction, its larvae can also be found in bromeliads in anthropic environments. Mosquito populations can be controlled through predation, in which the relative size of predator and prey are important to understand this interaction. Tadpoles of Phyllodytes luteolus live in bromeliad axils and are potential predators of mosquito larvae. Our aim was to assess if these tadpoles are able to prey mosquito larvae, and if the predation rate differs according to the size of predator and prey. We collected P. luteolus tadpoles and Culicidae mosquito larvae from bromeliads of restinga (sandbank) areas. We measured the total length of tadpoles and mosquito larvae, and separated them into three size categories (large, medium and small). As experimental units, we used 50 mL centrifuge tubes with 35 mL of dechlorinated water, without substrate and food. We applied nine treatments composed by a combination of tadpole size categories and mosquito larvae size categories. In each unit, we added one tadpole and five mosquito larvae to evaluate the overall predation rate after 4 days. We found that P. luteolus tadpoles of any size were able to prey on mosquito larvae and verified that large tadpoles preyed a larger number of mosquito larvae than smaller size categories. Our results can contribute to evaluate the importance of tadpoles in the trophic structuring of aquatic environments, especially in phytotelmata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many hemiepiphytic plants secrete a thick layer of mucilage to limit desiccation and protect against fungal pathogens. With its stable moisture and protected location, this mucilage constitutes a potentially attractive microhabitat for small animals; however, until now, no animal species have been recorded from it. Larvae of a psychodid fly were collected from the mucilage of a hemiepiphytic Araceae in Braulio Carillo National Park, Costa Rica. Rearing of the larvae yielded specimens of pupae and one adult male described here as Mucomyia emersa Kvifte and Curler gen. nov. sp. nov. An additional species from Costa Rica, Mucomyia browni Kvifte sp. nov., is described based on adult males from the Zurquí de Moravia forest reserve. Mucomyia belongs to tribe Psychodini, which comprises both habitat generalists and specialists. The new species are morphologically similar to those in Philosepedon s. str. and Eurygarka, both of which are known to develop in snail carrion. It is premature to speculate about whether or not species in the new genus are restricted to hemiepiphyte mucilage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the first list of Coleoptera species found inHohenbergia augusta(Vell.) E. Morren andVriesea friburgensisMez. (Bromeliaceae), in Santa Catarina state, Brazil, most of them identified to the species level. Beetle species richness and composition were compared between the bromeliad species and between Atlantic forest and restinga habitats. Biological information on some beetle species is reported for the first time. We also discuss the aquatic habit of the hydrophilidLachnodacnum luederwaldtiOrchymont, 1937 (Sphaeridinae) inside bromeliad phytotelms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water accumulations in vegetal structures, known as phytotelmata, serve as aquatic habitats for many insects, including mosquitoes. Among them,Culex(Phytotelmatomyia) is composed by a few species that are highly specialized and poorly known. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between sunlight conditions and the abundance of immature stages ofCulex(Phytotelmatomyia) species in the axils ofEryngium pandanifolium. A forest patch with a dense population ofE. pandanifoliumin the Lower Delta of the Paraná River (Entre Ríos province, Argentina) was sampled twice a month between December and May. A total of 880 plants were inspected in 220 sample zones defined by a combination of location within the patch and sunlight condition. All individuals collected (n = 521) belonged toCulex(Phytotelmatomyia)hepperi(56%),Culex(Phytotelmatomyia)castroi(40%), andCulex(Phytotelmatomyia)renatoi(4%). According to generalized linear models, the habitat availability (i.e. water presence) was positively associated with sun exposure, but not with the location within the patch. Mosquito presence and abundance were positively related only to water volume. Coexistence ofC. hepperiandC. castroiwas more frequent than would be expected by chance. Further studies to understand the effects of sunlight and plant architecture on water dynamics are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aimed to determine the susceptibility of stumps and internodes of bamboos to colonization by different types of macroinvertebrates and the formation of communities of different complexity. Semi-controlled field studies were carried out in a subtropical area of Argentina to analyse community structure, species richness of the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and co-occurrences of predators and prey to delineate the food webs. Water-filled bamboos were sampled every season during a year by removing, without replacing, all water and macroinvertebrates. This study shows that the variation in the morphology of the container provides different resources, leading to segregation of species per container type, and allowing each of them to establish aquatic communities with differences in diversity. The Diptera was best represented in the communities of bamboos, where Culicidae showed the highest species richness and Ceratopogonidae were the most abundant numerically. Eleven taxa were present in both phytotelmata, 12 were unique in internodes and 13 in stumps. The community in internodes was composed of 21 taxa where mosquitoes were represented by Sabethini and Toxorhynchitini. By contrast, stumps were colonized by 24 taxa and Ceratopogonidae were numerically dominant. Regarding food webs established in stumps and internodes, no differences in length were found, except for the species that played equivalent roles in each of the studied phytotelmata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses how Diptera assemblages differ in four sympatric phytotelmata. TheEryngiumspecies retain water in their axils forming a phytotelm and this situation leads to the speculation that dipteran assemblages may differ, mainly when the plants begin to grow and retain more water in their axils, and when becoming senescent. Diptera fromEryngium horridum,Eryngiumstenophyllum,Eryngiumaff.serraandEryngiumeleganswere sampled. This study revealed that theEryngiumspp. are used by Diptera differentially and their populations show seasonal changes, with peaks in the autumn. Diptera were represented by immature stages belonging to six aquatic and seven semi-aquatic families. The most important were Chironomidae, Culicidae, Periscelididae and Ceratopogonidae. Two species of Chironomids were the most abundant. Culicidae, Periscelididae and Ceratopogonidae were more selective than Chironomidae. Saprophages were the most abundant where the fine detritus feeders were the dominant group. Periscelididae was the main free-swimming predator. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new species ofLarsiaFittkau, 1962, viz.Larsia angusticornissp. n., is described and adults and immatures are figured. The study is based on larvae collected from phytotelmata of the bromeliadAechmea distichanthaLemaire, 1853 in northeastern Argentina that were reared to the adult stage. The pupa bears thoracic horns unusual for the genus, which distinguish this new species from otherLarsiaspecies. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:41DFD96D-98E2-4FFC-9CDE-C290BCA84D45 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The choice of breeding resources can be very important for the reproductive success and accordingly the fitness of an individual. Often, however, advantageous breeding sites also include disadvantageous characteristics. Neotropical poison frogs (Dendrobatidae), for example, use phytotelmata for the deposition of their tadpoles. The exploitation of these small pools is advantageous as it lowers the risk of predation, but it is also costly because of limited resource availability. Several species evolved regular provision with unfertilized trophic eggs to compensate for the resource limitations for their tadpoles. Fertilized eggs in contrast are usually deposited outside of the phytotelmata in both egg-feeding and non-feeding species, to avoid consumption by cannibalistic conspecific tadpoles. The Peruvian speciesRanitomeya variabilisis an exception: clutches are deposited within the phytotelmata. Several studies show a strong avoidance for egg deposition within phytotelmata already containing a tadpole. Here the hypothesis is tested that this avoidance behavior is mainly directed towards unrelated offspring, whileR. variabilisis less concerned and therefore shows less avoidance when faced with its own offspring. Therefore, two setups were compared, one in which frogs had to face newly erected phytotelmata containing cues of non-familiar tadpoles and one where phytotelmata remained at the same place, so frogs could deposit and recognize their own tadpoles. While non-familiar tadpoles were completely avoided for egg deposition, phytotelmata with familiar tadpoles received several clutches, suggesting a form of parental care inR. variabilisthat exceeds the transportation of tadpoles and might be a step towards egg feeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tadpole of the vampire flying frog Rhacophorus vampyrus from Vietnam is one of the strangest tadpoles known. These tadpoles develop from non-pigmented eggs suspended in a foam nest placed on the wall of a tree hole. The elongate, depressed body resembles that of some phytotelmon-breeding frogs, but the mouthparts bear little resemblance to any other tadpole: upper labium reduced to one large papilla-like structure on each side, upper jaw sheath with a few huge, widely spaced, hook-shaped serrations that face backwards into the buccal cavity, lower jaw sheath absent, sinistral spiracle visible only ventrally, and two large, forward facing, keratinized hooks accompanied laterally by two similar sized fleshy papillae on the margin of the reduced lower labium. All evidence suggests that the tadpoles are oophagous and that the mother returns to deposit trophic eggs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the diversity and distribution of macro-organisms living in phytotelmata (plant-container habitats) is well known, detailed taxonomic work on micro-organisms living in the same environments is limited. As a model clade of microbial eukaryotes, sampling of ciliates in Neotropical bromeliad tanks increased, and Neotropical phytotelmata such as bamboo stumps and tree holes were newly sampled. Thirty-three isolates from Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico were sequenced for small subunit rDNA, and placed into a phylogenetic context using non-phytotelmata GenBank accessions. This and the morphological investigations discovered 45 undescribed, possibly endemic ciliate species. The potential endemics are from throughout most clades of the ciliate tree of life, and there is evidence of speciation within the Neotropical phytotelmata habitat. Our data show the number of potential Neotropical phytotelmata-endemic ciliate species increasing as more phytotelmata are sampled. While the new data show that the supposed endemics are mainly recruited from moss and ephemeral limnetic habitats, the bromeliad ciliate fauna is quite distinct from those of other limnetic habitats, lacking many typical and common freshwater genera, such as Coleps, Colpidium, Frontonia, Paramecium, Glaucoma, Nassula, Stylonychia and Trithigmostoma. There is no indication that specific ciliates are confined to specific bromeliads. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Larvae collected in phytotelmata on Palawan, the Philippines, were bred and yielded three new species of genus Exochomoscirtes which are described. Exochomoscirtes pupae are described for the first time, and supplementary descriptions of larvae and females and some biological notes are provided. Scirtes (Curtoscirtes ?) brunneus sp. n. is named from a field-collected male. Larvae of unidentified species of Prionocyphon and Hydrocyphon are also recorded from Palawan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The poison frog Ranitomeya reticulata was studied for 3 months while mark-recapture surveys were performed. Ranitomeya species deposit terrestrial clutches and carry tadpoles to phytotelmata with few taxa performing biparental brood care including larval feeding. Home range size and spatial affinity to phytotelmata in the genus are linked to mating systems. In R. reticulata, individual home range size and overlap were similar in both sexes, indicating equal levels of site fidelity. Although territory defence was never observed, strong intrasexual intolerance within individuals' core areas was found. The large intersexual home range overlap for breeding pairs indicated that mate fidelity occurs. Individuals' home ranges were not overlapping, suggesting that R. reticulata lacks pair-bonding or strongly cooperative behaviour in parental duties. The number of ground bromeliads containing phytotelmata and home range size of males were positively correlated. Our findings suggest that females do not perform egg-feeding and male-only parental care is likely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth instar larva and pupa of Forcipomyia (Phytohelea) bromelicola (Lutz) are redescribed and illustrated, and compared with immatures of F. (P.) musae Clastrier and Delecolle and F. (P.) dominicana de Meillon and Wirth. Both life stages were photographed using scanning electron microscopy and phase-contrast light microscopy. The immatures were collected from bromeliads in Florida, USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water-filled treeholes are in reality tiny ponds in the woodland ecosystem and provide a unique habitat for a number of different organisms that make up the treehole community. The community is a detritus based system that relies primarily on decomposing leaves from the autumn leaf drop as an energy source. Among the arthropod inquilines is a histiostomatid mite, Hormosianoetus mallotae (Fashing), an obligate inhabitant that filters microorganisms and other organic matter from the fluid. Dispersal is accomplished by a heteromorphic deutonymphal stage (= hypopus). While larvae, protonymphs, tritonymphs and adults are found in the treeholes throughout the year, deutonymphs are present only in May and June when conditions are optimal for population growth by the treehole residents. Deutonymphs therefore do not form in response to adverse conditions, but rather to serve purely as dispersal agents for colonizing new treeholes and for out-crossing among populations. Deutonymphs are phoretic on adults of Mallota bautias (Walker) and M. posticata (Fabricius) (Diptera: Syrphidae), the larvae of which are also obligate treehole inhabitants. Mallota sp. have a one year life cycle with the adult stage also present only during May and June. Hormosianoetus mallotae is arrhenotokous and disperses only as female deutonymphs, propagules mating with the haploid male offspring of the dispersants. Females are ovoviviparous, retaining eggs in the reproductive system during embryonic development and giving birth to fully formed larvae. Development from egg to adult is approximately 14 days for males and 20 days for females. Like other mite inhabitants of the treehole community, H. mallotae is a K-selected species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on population dynamics and distribution are of primary interest to biologists because they reveal information about the species' ecology and evolution and are thus essential for conservation efforts. Patchily distributed species are especially interesting for conservation studies, because of their sometimes very specific environmental requirements. An example of a highly specialised species is the leaf litter frog Phrynobatrachus guineensis. This small species (<20 mm) is short lived, presumably weakly mobile and highly specialised because it uses tree-holes and other small water-filled cavities with very particular abiotic and biotic characteristics for breeding. Previous field studies revealed that P. guineensis exhibited a clumped distribution in Tai National Park (TNP), Ivory Coast, suggesting that the park's population might be subdivided into several (sub)populations. We therefore investigated the population genetic structure of the park using four microsatellite loci, which are the first described microsatellite markers for any African anuran in general and for a species of the family Phrynobatrachidae in particular. In contrast to our expectations, we detected only a slightly significant genetic differentiation based on allele frequencies. We found no correlation between the geographic and genetic distances (isolation by distance) and Bayesian clustering revealed no genetic substructure. We did, however, detect small but significant genetic differentiation between subsequent seasons. The most probable explanation for the lack of population structure is that P. guineensis is more mobile than expected. Adults, most likely females but possibly also juveniles, are able to traverse matrix habitats in which no breeding activities were detected. The temporal genetic differentiation may be the consequence of genetic drift due to high mortality rates and/or non-random mating. Both explanations would be consistent with our field data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several aspects of the reproductive behaviour of species of the Scinax perpusillus group (S. perpusillus, S. v-signatus, S. littoreus, and three other not yet described species) obtained from direct field observations and nocturnal video filming are presented and evaluated. Males of the observed species have behavioural characters, including aspects of their call, that are indicative of territory defence. Vocalizations are elaborate and represent intra- and inter-sexual communication mechanisms. Females present behaviour relating to the inspection of egg-laying sites (bromeliad leaf-tanks), reduced and partitioned clutch. This set of behaviours is not only indicative of a sophisticated control mechanism over egg laying and spermatozoid release, but also of the existence of a behavioural repertoire that probably originated in the ancestor of these species and could be considered a synapomorphy for this group of species. Furthermore, the behaviours described herein comprise a new reproductive strategy for frogs that reproduce in bromeliads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harpellales (Zygomycota: Trichomycetes) fungi are cosmopolitan obligate inhabitants of the gut of immature insects. A biweekly survey of gut fungi associated with chironomid (Chironomidae: Diptera) larvae living in the impounded water from Eryngium cabrerae (Apiaceae) phytotelmata from Punta Lara forest, Argentina, was done Jan 2003-Dec 2004. Two species of Harpellales were associated with chironomid larvae, Smittium phytotelmatum in the hindgut of Polypedilum sp. and Stachylina lentica in the midgut of both Polypedilum sp. and Metriocnemus eryngiotelmatus. No statistically significant differences were recorded in the prevalence of these Harpellales between seasons. Environmental variables (temperature, rainfall and relative humidity), impounded water volume, pH and chironomid larval density did not have an effect on the prevalence of the Trichomycetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]