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Zhang L, Ma R, Yang L, Zhang X, He H. Impact of environmental pollution on ant (Camponotus japonicus) development and labial gland disease. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2024; 477:135360. [PMID: 39088954 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 07/15/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/03/2024]
Abstract
Metallic pollutants can have harmful impacts on ant morphology and physiology. We studied the occurrence of labial gland disease in Camponotus japonicus from two polluted areas (traffic pollution and industrial pollution) and one non-polluted area. We further analyzed the metal levels (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) and morphological characteristics (head width, body mass, and other morphological traits) of both diseased and healthy workers. Our results showed that labial gland disease was only present in polluted areas, indicating that pollution stress makes ants more vulnerable to infections. Our research revealed that diseased ants in polluted areas accumulate higher levels of metals in their bodies and have lower dry weight and residual body mass compared to healthy ants in non-polluted environments, negatively impacting their development. We evaluated the importance of these elements and found that Cu has the greatest impact on the health risk of C. japonicus. Our study underscores the significant impact of environmental pollution on ant morphology and physiology and raises concerns about the broader ecological implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liangliang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Ruoqing Ma
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Lv Yang
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Xiang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Hong He
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
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Pérez-Lachaud G, Rocha FH, Lachaud JP. A Neoponera villosa (Fabricius, 1804) Worker Pupa with too Many Legs (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). NEOTROPICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2024; 53:997-1001. [PMID: 38874656 DOI: 10.1007/s13744-024-01168-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024]
Abstract
Several somatic and sexual anomalies such as gynandromorphism and other morphological malformations have been described in ants, but cases of supernumerary legs in natural populations are rare, with only six cases reported to date. Moreover, few cases of abnormalities have been reported for the Ponerinae subfamily, with only three cases of genetic chimeras and five teratological cases worldwide. We report here a new case of teratology in this subfamily, with a seven-legged worker pupa found in a Neoponera villosa colony nesting in an epiphytic tank bromeliad. This is the second case for Mexico of a morphological anomaly in a ponerine ant, but the first report of a teratological case in the subfamily for this country.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Pérez-Lachaud
- El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Dpto. Conservación de La Biodiversidad, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
| | - Franklin H Rocha
- Dpto. Apicultura, Campus de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma de Yuacatán, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
| | - Jean-Paul Lachaud
- El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Dpto. Conservación de La Biodiversidad, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
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Prebus M, Georgiev BB, van de Kamp T, Hamann E, Baker I, Rabeling C. The rediscovery of the putative ant social parasite Manica parasitica syn. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) reveals an unexpected endoparasite syndrome. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230399. [PMID: 38115747 PMCID: PMC10731316 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Parasitism is ubiquitous across the tree of life, and parasites comprise approximately half of all animal species. Social insect colonies attract many pathogens, endo- and ectoparasites, and are exploited by social parasites, which usurp the social environment of their hosts for survival and reproduction. Exploitation by parasites and pathogens versus social parasites may cause similar behavioural and morphological modifications of the host. Ants possess two overlapping syndromes: the endo- and social parasite syndromes. We rediscovered two populations of the putative social parasite Manica parasitica in the Sierra Nevada, and tested the hypothesis that M. parasitica is an independently evolving social parasite. We evaluated traits used to discriminate M. parasitica from its host Manica bradleyi, and examined the morphology of M. parasitica in the context of ant parasitic syndromes. We find that M. parasitica is not a social parasite. Instead, M. parasitica represents cestode-infected M. bradleyi. We propose that M. parasitica should be regarded as a junior synonym of M. bradleyi. Our results emphasize that an integrative approach is essential for unravelling the complex life histories of social insects and their symbionts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Prebus
- Social Insect Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, 550 E Orange St., Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
- Department of Integrative Taxonomy of Insects, Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstraße 30, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany
- KomBioTa – Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy Research, University of Hohenheim and State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Boyko B. Georgiev
- Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Thomas van de Kamp
- Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
- Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation (LAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Elias Hamann
- Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
| | - Iyla Baker
- Social Insect Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, 550 E Orange St., Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, 633 Clark St, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Christian Rabeling
- Social Insect Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, 550 E Orange St., Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
- Department of Integrative Taxonomy of Insects, Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstraße 30, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany
- KomBioTa – Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy Research, University of Hohenheim and State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Germany
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Zhang L, Ma R, Xu W, Billen J, He H. Comparative morphology and ultrastructure of the labial gland among castes of Camponotus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT 2023; 72:101236. [PMID: 36708649 DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2023.101236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The labial gland is a major exocrine gland in the thoracic cavity of ants, which is connected to the mouth area and opens at the base of the labium. The labial gland in the various castes and males of Camponotus japonicus were examined using dissection, light microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Our findings reveal clear caste differences in the appearance of the labial gland, and suggest a relationship between gland structure and its behavioral role in queens, males and workers: queens possess the largest reservoir sac; males have the smallest; workers have abundant secretion droplets in the gland cells of the tubules; epithelial thickness of gland cells varies considerably between workers and reproductive ants. The apical cell region has a high density of microvilli and polymorphic mitochondria, whereas the central cell region is rich in rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) which means its main secretions are proteinaceous compounds. We believe that the labial gland has a different function in the castes of C. japonicus: the gland of workers and queens may be used to feed the larvae; workers participate in trophallaxis in the nest, while the males are not involved in these activities. Calculations of the relative size of the labial gland for each caste and males indicated that minor workers have the relative highest developed labial gland, supporting a role in trophallaxis. In addition, we found a phenomenon of enlarged labial gland in minor workers, which accounted for almost 22%, but the reason for this is unknown.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liangliang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Management of Forest Bio-Disaster, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China
| | - Ruoqing Ma
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Management of Forest Bio-Disaster, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China
| | - WenJing Xu
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Management of Forest Bio-Disaster, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China
| | - Johan Billen
- Zoological Institute, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, box 2466, 3000, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hong He
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Management of Forest Bio-Disaster, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China.
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Csősz S, Báthori F, Molet M, Majoros G, Rádai Z. From Parasitized to Healthy-Looking Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Morphological Reconstruction Using Algorithmic Processing. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12050625. [PMID: 35629292 PMCID: PMC9145562 DOI: 10.3390/life12050625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Parasites cause predictable alternative phenotypes of host individuals. Investigating these parasitogenic phenotypes may be essential in cases where parasitism is common or taxa is described based on a parasitized individual. Ignoring them could lead to erroneous conclusions in biodiversity-focused research, taxonomy, evolution, and ecology. However, to date, integrating alternative phenotypes into a set of wild-type individuals in morphometric analysis poses extraordinary challenges to experts. This paper presents an approach for reconstructing the putative healthy morphology of parasitized ants using algorithmic processing. Our concept enables the integration of alternative parasitogenic phenotypes in morphometric analyses. Methods: We tested the applicability of our strategy in a large pool of Cestoda-infected and healthy individuals of three Temnothorax ant species (T. nylanderi, T. sordidulus, and T. unifasciatus). We assessed the stability and convergence of morphological changes caused by parasitism across species. We used an artificial neural network-based multiclass classifier model to predict species based on morphological trait values and the presence of parasite infection. Results: Infection causes predictable morphological changes in each species, although these changes proved to be species-specific. Therefore, integrating alternative parasitogenic phenotypes in morphometric analyses can be achieved at the species level, and a prior species hypothesis is required. Conclusion: Despite the above limitation, the concept is appropriate. Beyond parasitogenic phenotypes, our approach can also integrate morphometric data of an array of alternative phenotypes (subcastes in social insects, alternative morphs in polyphenic species, and alternative sexes in sexually dimorphic species) whose integrability had not been resolved before.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sándor Csősz
- Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary;
- MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, 1053 Budapest, Hungary
- Correspondence:
| | - Ferenc Báthori
- Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary;
| | - Mathieu Molet
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences-Paris (iEES-Paris), Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Est Créteil, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, F-75005 Paris, France;
| | - Gábor Majoros
- Department of Parasitology and Zoology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Szent István University, István u. 2., 1078 Budapest, Hungary;
| | - Zoltán Rádai
- Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary;
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Boudinot BE, Moosdorf OTD, Beutel RG, Richter A. Anatomy and evolution of the head of Dorylus helvolus (Formicidae: Dorylinae): Patterns of sex- and caste-limited traits in the sausagefly and the driver ant. J Morphol 2021; 282:1616-1658. [PMID: 34427942 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.21410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Revised: 08/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Ants are highly polyphenic Hymenoptera, with at least three distinct adult forms in the vast majority of species. Their sexual dimorphism, however, is overlooked to the point of being a nearly forgotten phenomenon. Using a multimodal approach, we interrogate the near total head microanatomy of the male of Dorylus helvolus, the "sausagefly," and compare it with the conspecific or near-conspecific female castes, the "driver ants." We found that no specific features were shared uniquely between the workers and males to the exclusion of the queens, indicating independence of male and worker development; males and queens, however, uniquely shared several features. Certain previous generalizations about ant sexual dimorphism are confirmed, while we also discover discrete muscular presences and absences, for which reason we provide a coarse characterization of functional morphology. Based on the unexpected retention of a medial carinate line on the structurally simplified mandible of the male, we postulate a series of developmental processes to explain the patterning of ant mandibles. We invoke functional and anatomical principles to classify sensilla. Critically, we observe an inversion of the expected pattern of male-queen mandible development: male Dorylus mandibles are extremely large while queen mandibles are poorly developed. To explain this, we posit that the reproductive-limited mandible phenotype is canalized in Dorylus, thus partially decoupling the queen and worker castes. We discuss alternative hypotheses and provide further comparisons to understand mandibular evolution in army ants. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the expression of the falcate phenotype in the queen is coincidental, that is, a "spandrel," and that the form of male mandibles is also generally coincidental across the ants. We conclude that the theory of ant development and evolution is incomplete without consideration of the male system, and we call for focused study of male anatomy and morphogenesis, and of trait limitation across all castes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendon Elias Boudinot
- Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Entomology Group, Erbertstraße, Jena, Germany
| | - Olivia Tikuma Diana Moosdorf
- Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Entomology Group, Erbertstraße, Jena, Germany
| | - Rolf Georg Beutel
- Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Entomology Group, Erbertstraße, Jena, Germany
| | - Adrian Richter
- Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsforschung, Entomology Group, Erbertstraße, Jena, Germany
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