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Out of the burrow and into the nest: Functional anatomy of three life history stages of Ozaena lemoulti (Coleoptera: Carabidae) reveals an obligate life with ants
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 14, Iss 1, p e0209790 (2019), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2019.
-
Abstract
- The carabid subfamily Paussinae contains many species known to be obligately associated with ants during at least one stage of their life history. Myrmecophilous larvae have been documented for members of the tribe Paussini as well as several genera in the tribes Ozaenini, including Physea and Eustra. Here we describe the first instar larva of Ozaena lemoulti, and find it to be the most highly modified ozaenine larva that we have examined to date. Many structures of the larva suggest that it is a myrmecophile. Unlike all other described ozaenine larvae, which live in burrows that they construct and seal with their terminal disk, the completely unique larval morphology suggests Ozaena has adapted to living without the protection of a burrow and therefore must have a completely different feeding strategy than the typical ambush strategy of burrow dwelling larvae. We hypothesize that Ozaena larvae live in association with ants and use their long legs for running within the nest, and modifications of the mouthparts suggest the larva feeds on soft lightly sclerotized prey, such as ant brood. Our findings support an earlier hypothesis that Ozaena is mymecophilous during the adult stage. Comparisons of the functional anatomy of the eggs, larvae and adult between Ozaena lemoulti and the closely related, non-myrmecophilous general arthropod predator, Goniotropis kuntzeni, provide complementary, yet independent, evidence suggestive of this shift in lifestyle. We also examine and molecularly identify gut contents, providing direct evidence that adult Ozaena exclusively eat Camponotus ants. We conclude that Ozaena represents an independent shift to adopting a life of myrmecophily among beetles classified within the carabid subfamily Paussinae and document the morphological changes at each life history stage associated with the shift to a nest parasite lifestyle.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Life Cycles
Predation
01 natural sciences
Trees
Larvae
Nest
Beetles
Medicine and Health Sciences
Ozaena
Comparative Anatomy
Phylogeny
Larva
Multidisciplinary
biology
Ecology
Eukaryota
Plants
Myrmecophily
Arthropod mouthparts
Trophic Interactions
Coleoptera
Insects
Community Ecology
Medicine
Anatomy
Research Article
Arthropoda
Science
Zoology
010603 evolutionary biology
Oaks
parasitic diseases
Animals
Arthropods
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all)
Ants
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
fungi
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Burrow
biology.organism_classification
Invertebrates
Hymenoptera
Brood
010602 entomology
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (all)
Developmental Biology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 14
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c7b9f149866c8eb3e21797bda50284e7