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1.
Here we show that trying to rob prey (cleptobiosis) from a highly specialized predatory ant species is risky. To capture prey,
Allomerus decemarticulatus workers build gallery-shaped traps on the stems of their associated myrmecophyte, Hirtella physophora. We wondered whether the frequent presence of immobilized prey on the trap attracted flying cleptoparasites. Nine social
wasp species nest in the H. physophora foliage; of the six species studied, only Angiopolybia pallens rob prey from Allomerus colonies. For those H. physophora not sheltering wasps, we noted cleptobiosis by stingless bees (Trigona), social wasps (A. pallens and five Agelaia species), assassin bugs (Reduviidae), and flies. A relationship between the size of the robbers and their rate of capture
by ambushing Allomerus workers was established for social wasps; small wasps were easily captured, while the largest never were. Reduviids, which
are slow to extract their rostrum from prey, were always captured, while Trigona and flies often escaped. The balance sheet for the ants was positive vis-à-vis the reduviids and four out of the six social
wasp species. For the latter, wasps began by cutting up parts of the prey’s abdomen and were captured (or abandoned the prey)
before the entire abdomen was retrieved so that the total weight of the captured wasps exceeded that of the prey abdomens.
For A. pallens, we show that the number of individuals captured during attempts at cleptobiosis increases with the size of the Allomerus’ prey. 相似文献
2.
3.
In addition to encoding referential information and information about the sender’s motivation, mammalian alarm calls may encode
information about other attributes of the sender, providing the potential for recognition among kin, mates, and neighbors.
Here, we examined 96 speckled ground squirrels (Spermophilus suslicus), 100 yellow ground squirrels (Spermophilus fulvus) and 85 yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) to determine whether their alarm calls differed between species in their ability to encode information about the caller’s
sex, age, and identity. Alarm calls were elicited by approaching individually identified animals in live-traps. We assume
this experimental design modeled a naturally occurring predatory event, when receivers should acquire information about attributes
of a caller from a single bout of alarm calls. In each species, variation that allows identification of the caller’s identity
was greater than variation allowing identification of age or sex. We discuss these results in relation to each species’ biology
and sociality. 相似文献
4.
The ant genus Cardiocondyla is characterized by a bizarre male polymorphism with wingless fighter males and winged disperser males. Winged males have
been lost convergently in several clades, and in at least one of them, wingless males have evolved mutual tolerance. To better
understand the evolutionary pathways of reproductive tactics, we investigated Cardiocondyla venustula, a species, which in a phylogenetic analysis clusters with species with fighting and species with mutually tolerant, wingless
males. Wingless males of C. venustula use their strong mandibles to kill freshly eclosed rival males and also engage in short fights with other adult males, but
in addition show a novel behavior hitherto not reported from social insect males: they spread out in the natal nest and defend
“territories” against other males. Ant males therefore show a much larger variety of reproductive tactics than previously
assumed. 相似文献
5.
Floral colour patterns are contrasting colour patches on flowers, a part of the signalling apparatus that was considered to display shape and colour signals used by flower-visitors to detect flowers and locate the site of floral reward. Here, we show that flower-naïve bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) spontaneously direct their approach towards the outside margin of artificial flowers, which provides contrast between these dummy flowers and the background. If no floral guides are present, the bumblebees continue to approach the margin and finally touch the marginal area of the dummy flower with the tips of their antennae. Whilst approaching dummy flowers that also have a central floral guide, the bumblebees change their direction of flight: Initially, they approach the margin, later they switch to approaching the colour guide, and finally they precisely touch the floral guide with their antennae. Variation of the shape of equally sized dummy flowers did not alter the bumblebees’ preferential orientation towards the guide. Using reciprocal combinations of guide colour and surrounding colour, we showed that the approach from a distance towards the corolla and the antennal contact with the guide are elicited by the same colour parameter: spectral purity. As a consequence, the dummy flowers eliciting the greatest frequency of antennal reactions at the guide are those that combine a floral guide of high spectral purity with a corolla of less spectral purity. Our results support the hypothesis that floral guides direct bumblebees’ approaches to the site of first contact with the flower, which is achieved by the tips of the antennae.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at 相似文献
6.
Most studies on insect sperm motility have been conducted in vitro using artificial environments outside the animal’s body.
Only little is known about the function of motile insect sperm at different sites within the male or female genital tracts.
We dissected genital tracts of female rove beetles (Drusilla canaliculata) to show that spermatozoa use their own motility to migrate from the spermatophore into the spermatheca. Our dissection method
allowed direct observation and filming of the spermathecal filling process inside the female’s genital tract. Spermatozoa
were found to enter the spermatheca individually, sometimes in groups of two or three. Although exhibiting only weak motility
and no progressive motion in buffer solution, the spermatozoa inside the female show vigorous lashing and reach an average
velocity of 47.5 μm s−1. To gain mobility and speed, the spermatozoa likely utilize the relatively small diameter of the spermathecal duct to push
themselves off the duct walls, rather than swimming freely in seminal fluid. The spermatozoa (approximately 1,250 μm) are
considerably longer than the distance they have to travel along the spermathecal duct (approximately 800 μm). Our study provides
the first direct observation of active sperm migration within the female of an insect stressing the importance of the genital
tract as a prerequisite for functional sperm motility. 相似文献
7.
Fossils from the central Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica are referred to a new species of the Triassic genus Kombuisia, one of four dicynodont lineages known to survive the end-Permian mass extinction. The specimens show a unique combination
of characters only present in this genus, but the new species can be distinguished from the type species of the genus, Kombuisia frerensis, by the presence of a reduced but slit-like pineal foramen and the lack of contact between the postorbitals. Although incomplete,
the Antarctic specimens are significant because Kombuisia was previously known only from the South African Karoo Basin and the new specimens extend the taxon’s biogeographic range
to a wider portion of southern Pangaea. In addition, the new finds extend the known stratigraphic range of Kombuisia from the Middle Triassic subzone B of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone into rocks that are equivalent in age to the Lower Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone, shortening the proposed ghost lineage of this taxon. Most importantly, the occurrence of Kombuisia and Lystrosaurus mccaigi in the Lower Triassic of Antarctica suggests that this area served as a refuge from some of the effects of the end-Permian
extinction. The composition of the lower Fremouw Formation fauna implies a community structure similar to that of the ecologically
anomalous Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of South Africa, providing additional evidence for widespread ecological disturbance in the extinction’s
aftermath. 相似文献
8.
Recent studies on climate responses in ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates have been few in number and focussed on phenology
rather than morphology. According to Bergmann’s rule, endothermic (warm-blooded) vertebrates from cooler climates tend to
be larger than congeners from warmer regions. Although amphibians are ectothermic vertebrates, weather and climatic conditions
may also impact on their morphology, and thereby affect their survival rates and population dynamics. In this paper, we show,
in a unique long-term study during the period 1963–2003 in an agricultural landscape in western Poland, that the body length
of two water frog parental species (males of both Rana ridibunda and R. lessonae) increased significantly. However, their hybridogenetic hybrid R. esculenta did not show similar changes. A significant relationship with a large-scale climatic factor, the winter North Atlantic Oscillation
index, was found positive for R. ridibunda males and R. lessonae females, and negative for R. esculenta females. Our findings, the first for amphibians, are consistent with other studies reporting that recent climate change has
affected the morphology of animals. However, we also show that changes in amphibian phenotype linked to climate may vary independently
between (even very similar) species. 相似文献
9.
The phorid fly, Pseudacteon tricuspis Borgmeier, is an introduced parasitoid of imported fire ants, Solenopsis spp., in the USA. Although the assumption that phorid flies use fire ant alarm pheromones for host location is probably true,
we demonstrated in a previous study the possible involvement of other ant semiochemicals in the response of P. tricuspis to fire ants. This study was conducted to determine the glandular sources and identity of the semiochemicals mediating this
interaction. First, we tested the electroantennogram response of P. tricuspis to extracts of key body parts and glands of workers of the red imported fire ant, S. invicta Buren. The results confirm that the poison (venom) gland/sac is the key source of compounds which elicited strong antennal
activity in P. tricuspis. Follow-up studies were conducted by using a combination of bioassay-guided fractionation and behavioral bioassays to test
the hypothesis that attraction of this parasitoid to fire ants is mediated by venom alkaloids. The results confirm the response
of P. tricuspis to physiologically relevant amounts of the two venom alkaloid fractions (cis and trans alkaloid fractions) of S. invicta. Further analysis by coupled gas chromatography–electroantennogram detection revealed nine venom alkaloid components including
two novel 2,6-dialkylpiperideines that elicited significant antennal activity in P. tricuspis. This is the first demonstration of the role of venom alkaloids of ants as attractants for their natural enemies. We propose
a semiochemical-mediated host location mechanism for P. tricuspis involving both alarm pheromones and venom alkaloids. The ecological significance of these findings, including the attraction
of male P. tricuspis to fire ant venom alkaloids, possibly for mate location, is discussed. 相似文献
10.
Tan K Yang MX Radloff SE Hepburn HR Zhang ZY Luo LJ Li H 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2008,95(12):1165-1168
Although the structure of the dance language is very similar among species of honeybees, communication of the distance component
of the message varies both intraspecifically and interspecifically. However, it is not known whether different honeybee species
would attend interspecific waggle dances and, if so, whether they can decipher such dances. Using mixed-species colonies of
Apis cerana and Apis mellifera, we show that, despite internal differences in the structure of the waggle dances of foragers, both species attend, and act
on the information encoded in each other’s waggle dances but with limited accuracy. These observations indicate that direction
and distance communication pre-date speciation in honeybees. 相似文献
11.
Male–male competition for females can significantly affect a male’s reproductive success and hence his fitness. Game theory
predicts that an individual should avoid fighting when its future reproductive potential is high, but should fight forcefully
when its future reproductive potential is insignificant. When mates are scarce, extreme competition and fatal fighting is
expected. We recently showed that Nephilengys malabarensis eunuchs, i.e. sterile spider males that lost their genitals during copulation, become more aggressive during male–male contests.
Here, we add crucial comparative data by exploring eunuch fighting behaviour in Nephilengys livida from Madagascar, specifically by testing the ‘better fighter hypotheses’ in a laboratory setting. Similar to N. malabarensis, N. livida copulations resulted in total male castration with the severed palp plugging the female genitals in 70.83% cases, which mostly
(63.63%) prevented subsequent copulations. Unexpectedly, however, N. livida eunuchs exhibited lower aggressiveness than virgin males. We interpret these results in the light of different mating biology
between the so far studied species known for the eunuch phenomenon, which might reflect differing plug effectiveness due to
variation in genital anatomy in N. livida, N. malabarensis and Herennia multipuncta. However, detected differences in aggressive behaviour of N. livida versus N. malabarensis eunuchs might also be explained by the species’ ecology, with lower population densities resulting in a relaxed male–male
competition making excessive aggression and mate guarding redundant. This study thus questions the generality of overt aggressiveness
in mated males with no reproductive value, and highlights the importance of understanding the natural history of species in
the question. 相似文献
12.
A reassessment of the mating system characteristics of the army ant Eciton burchellii 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Kronauer DJ Berghoff SM Powell S Denny AJ Edwards KJ Franks NR Boomsma JJ 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2006,93(8):402-406
In a recent study, Denny et al. (2004a) showed that queens of the army ant, Eciton burchellii, mate with multiple males and presented estimates suggesting that they mate with more males than queens of any other ant species so far investigated. They also inferred that data were consistent with queens being inseminated repeatedly throughout their life, which would be exceptional among the social Hymenoptera and contradictory to predictions from kin selection theory. In the present study, we reanalyze these data using new software and supplement them with similar microsatellite data from other colonies of the same species. Mating frequencies in E. burchellii are indeed very high (mean observed and effective queen-mating frequencies of 12.9 each) but considerably lower than the previous estimates. We show that the number of patrilines represented in the first worker offspring of a young queen is lower than in older queens but suggest that this may be due to initial sperm clumping in the queen’s sperm storage organ, rather than to repeated inseminations. Moreover, we found no evidence for repeated mating by genotyping sequential worker generations produced by a single old queen, showing that she did not obtain new inseminations despite ample opportunities for mating. 相似文献
13.
Marcelo H. Cassini Laura Fasola Claudio Chehébar David W. Macdonald 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(5):593-599
The Southern river otter or ‘huillin’, Lontra provocax, is an endangered species endemic of the Andean Patagonian region of Argentina and Chile. It feeds almost exclusively on
the genera of macro-crustacea: Aegla and Sammastacus. The aim of this study was to analyse the role of food availability on the huillin’s distribution using a scale-dependent
analysis of crustacean and otter distributions. We compared the distributions of otters and macro-crustaceans along a north–south
regional gradient, between river basins of northern Patagonia, in an altitudinal gradient within a river basin, and between
habitat types within a lake. We investigated the distribution of otters by sign surveys along lake shores, river banks and
marine coasts, and of crustaceans using surveys in the water, undigested remains in mink (Mustela vison) scats, presence of external skeletons at the waterside and through interviews with local people. Our results show that there
were heterogeneities in the distributions of macro-crustaceans at four scales and these were generally reflected in the distributions
of freshwater otters. We conclude that the main factor limiting the distributions of L. provocax in freshwater environments is the availability of macro-crustaceans. This paper shows how scale-dependent type analyses of
population distribution serves as a method for identifying key environmental factors for species for which the use of long-term
demographies is unfeasible. 相似文献
14.
In ants, winged queens that are specialized for independent colony foundation can be replaced by wingless reproductives better
adapted for colony fission. We studied this shift in reproductive strategy by comparing two Mystrium species from Madagascar using morphometry, allometry and dissections. Mystrium rogeri has a single dealate queen in each colony with a larger thorax than workers and similar mandibles that allow these queens
to hunt during non-claustral foundation. In contrast, Mystrium ‘red’ lacks winged queens and half of the female adults belong to a wingless ‘intermorph’ caste smaller and allometrically distinct
from the workers. Intermorphs have functional ovaries and spermatheca while those of workers are degenerate. Intermorphs care
for brood and a few mate and reproduce making them an all-purpose caste that takes charge of both work and reproduction. However,
their mandibles are reduced and inappropriate for hunting centipedes, unlike the workers’ mandibles. This together with their
small thorax disallow them to perform independent colony foundation, and colonies reproduce by fission. M. rogeri workers have mandibles polymorphic in size and shape, which allow for all tasks from brood care to hunting. In M. ‘red’, colonial investment in reproduction has shifted from producing expensive winged queens to more numerous helpers. M. ‘red’ intermorphs are the first case of reproductives smaller than workers in ants and illustrate their potential to diversify
their caste system for better colonial economy. 相似文献
15.
Kaatz FH 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2006,93(8):374-378
A method that explains how to quantify the amount of order in “ordered” and “highly ordered” porous arrays is derived. Ordered arrays from bee honeycomb and several from the general field of nanoscience are compared. Accurate measures of the order in porous arrays are made using the discrete radial distribution function (RDF). Nanoporous anodized aluminum oxide (AAO), hexagonal arrays from functional materials, hexagonal arrays from nanosphere lithography, and square arrays defined by interference lithography (all taken from the literature) are compared to two-dimensional model systems. These arrays have a range of pore diameters from ∼60 to 180 nm. An order parameter, OP
3
, is defined to evaluate the total order in a given array such that an ideal network has the value of 1. When we compare RDFs of man-made arrays with that of our honeycomb (pore diameter ∼5.89 mm), a locally grown version made by Apis
mellifera without the use of foundation comb, we find OP
3
=0.399 for the honeycomb and OP
3
=0.572 for man’s best hexagonal array. The nearest neighbor peaks range from 4.65 for the honeycomb to 5.77 for man’s best hexagonal array, while the ideal hexagonal array has an average of 5.93 nearest neighbors. Ordered arrays are now becoming quite common in nanostructured science, while bee honeycombs were studied for millennia. This paper describes the first method to quantify the order found in these arrays with a simple yet elegant procedure that provides a precise measurement of the order in one array compared to other arrays. 相似文献
16.
The olfactory circuitry of Drosophila melanogaster is becoming increasingly clear. However, how olfactory processing translates into appropriate behavioral responses is still
poorly understood. Using a sibling species approach, we tested how a perturbation in the olfactory circuitry affects odor
preference. In a previous study, we found that the sibling species of D. melanogaster, the specialist D. sechellia, overrepresents a sensillum, ab3, the A neuron of which is sensitive to hexanoate esters, characteristic of the species’
sole host, the Morinda citrifolia fruit. Concordantly, the corresponding glomerulus, DM2, is enlarged. In this study, we found that the ab3B neuron, the expansion
of which was previously assumed to be pleiotropic and of no ecological significance, is in fact tuned to another morinda fruit
volatile, 2-heptanone (HP). Axons of this neuron type arborize in a second enlarged glomerulus. In behavioral experiments
we tested how this has affected the fly’s odor preference. We demonstrate that D. sechellia has a reversed preference for the key ligands of these macroglomeruli, especially at high concentrations. Whereas D. melanogaster was repelled by high concentrations of these odors, D. sechellia was highly attracted. This was the case for odors presented singly, but more notably for blends thereof. Our study indicates
that relatively simple changes, such as a shift in sensillar abundance, and concordant shifts in glomerular size, can distort
the resulting olfactory code, and can lead to saltatory shifts in odor preference. D. sechellia has exploited this to align its olfactory preference with its ecological niche. 相似文献
17.
Madagascar provides some of the rare examples where two or more primate species of the same genus and with seemingly identical
niche requirements occur in sympatry. If congeneric primate species co-occur in other parts of the world, they differ in size
in a way that is consistent with Hutchinson’s rule for coexisting species, or they occupy different ecological niches. In
some areas of Madagascar, mouse lemurs do not follow these “rules” and thus seem to violate one of the principles of community
ecology. In order to understand the mechanisms that allow coexistence of sympatric congeneric species without obvious niche
differentiation, we studied food composition of two identical sized omnivorous mouse lemur species, Microcebus griseorufus and M. murinus with the help of stable isotope analyses (δ
15N and δ
13C). The two species are closely related sister species. During the rich season, when food seems abundant, the two species
do not differ in their nitrogen isotope composition, indicating that the two species occupy the same trophic level. But they
differ in their δ
13C values, indicating that M. griseorufus feeds more on C4 and CAM (Crassulacean-acid-metabolism) plants than M. murinus. During the lean season, M. murinus has lower δ
15N values, indicating that the two species feed at different trophic levels during times of food shortage. Hybrids between
the two species showed intermediate food composition. The results reflect subtle differences in foraging or metabolic adaptations
that are difficult to quantify by traditional observations but that represent possibilities to allow coexistence of species. 相似文献
18.
The European land leech Xerobdella lecomtei was discovered in 1868 and is one of the rarest animals on Earth. During the 1960s, several individuals of these approx.
40 mm long, cold-adapted terrestrial annelids that inhabit the moist soils of birch forests around Graz, Austria, were investigated.
Only one original research paper has been published on the biology of this species. Between 2001 and 2005, we re-investigated
the morphology of preserved specimens and searched for living individuals in their natural habitat that appeared to be intact.
We found only one juvenile individual (length approx. 10 mm), indicating that this local leech population became largely extinct
over the past four decades. The feeding behaviour of our ‘lonesome George of the annelids’ was studied and is described here
in detail. After its death, the Xerobdella individual was used for chemical extraction and molecular studies (deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] barcoding, based on one gene,
the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I). In addition, novel DNA barcodes for a land leech from Madagascar and a recently discovered species from
Europe were obtained. Our phylogenetic tree shows that X. lecomtei is not a member of the tropical land leeches (family Haemadipsidae), as previously thought, but represents a separate line
of descent (family Xerobdellidae). The decline of the local leech population around Graz correlates with a rise in average
summer temperatures of +3°C between 1961 and 2004. This warming led to a drastic reduction in the moisture content of the
soil where X. lecomtei lives. We suggest that human-induced climate change without apparent habitat destruction can lead to the extinction of populations
of cold-adapted species that have a low colonization ability. 相似文献
19.
Liquan Zhang Zhanguo Gao Richard Armitage Martin Kent 《Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering in China》2008,2(2):187-197
The spectral reflectance of recently formed salt marshes at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which are undergoing invasion
by Spartina alterniflora, were assessed to determine the potential utility of remotely sensed data in assessing future invasion and changes in species
composition. Following a review of published research on remote sensing of salt marshes, 53 locations along three transects
were sampled for paired data on plant species composition and spectral reflectance using a FieldSpec™ Pro JR Field Portable
Spectroradiometer. Spectral data were processed concerning reflectance, and the averaged reflectance values for each sample
were reanalysed to correspond to a 12-waveband bandset of the Compact Airborne Spectral Imager. The spectral data were summarised
using principal components analysis (PCA) and the relationships between the vegetation composition, and the PCA axes of spectral
data were examined. The first PCA axis of the reflectance data showed a strong correlation with variability in near infrared
reflectance and ‘brightness’, while the second axis was correlated with visible reflectance and ‘greenness’. Total vegetation
cover, vegetation height, and mudflat cover were all significantly related to the first axis. The implications of this in
terms of the ability of remote sensing to distinguish the various salt marsh species and in particular the invasive species
S. alterniflora were discussed. Major differences in species with various physiognomies could be recognised but problems occurred in separating
early colonising S. alterniflora from other species at that stage. Further work using multi-seasonal hyperspectral data might assist in solving these problems. 相似文献
20.
Alain Dejean Bruno Corbara Frédéric Azémar James M. Carpenter 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2012,99(7):579-582
Because group-hunting arboreal ants spread-eagle insect prey for a long time before retrieving them, these prey can be coveted by predatory flying insects. Yet, attempting to rob these prey is risky if the ant species is also an effective predator. Here, we show that trying to rob prey from Azteca andreae workers is a fatal error as 268 out of 276 potential cleptobionts (97.1?%) were captured in turn. The ant workers hunt in a group and use the “Velcro?” principle to cling firmly to the leaves of their host tree, permitting them to capture very large prey. Exceptions were one social wasp, plus some Trigona spp. workers and flies that landed directly on the prey and were able to take off immediately when attacked. We conclude that in this situation, previously captured prey attract potential cleptobionts that are captured in turn in most of the cases. 相似文献