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von Beeren C, Pohl S, Fikáček M, Kleinfelder S, Tishechkin AK, Yamamoto S, Chani‐Posse M, Żyła D, Tokareva A, Maruyama M, Hall WE, Sandoval LP, Kronauer DJC. Army ant middens - Home and nursery of a diverse beetle fauna. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10451. [PMID: 37736273 PMCID: PMC10509147 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Army ants provide nourishment to a large variety of animals. This includes birds that feed on animals flushed out by army ant raids, symbiotic arthropods that consume the ants' prey or their brood, and other arthropods that scavenge on army ant refuse deposits. The latter have not received much attention, and the few published studies lack detailed species identifications. Here we provide a first systematic inventory of the beetle fauna associated with refuse deposits of Eciton army ants, with a focus on Eciton burchellii. We collected 8364 adult beetles, 511 larvae, and 24 eggs from 34 deposits at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. We used a combination of DNA barcoding and morphology to identify a subset of 436 specimens to species level. The samples included several new species, and we here formally describe two water scavenger beetles (Hydrophilidae). Refuse deposits harbored a diverse beetle fauna. The identified subset consisted of 91 beetle species from 12 families, with rove beetles being the most abundant and diverse visitors. Of the 85 species found with E. burchellii, 50 species were collected from only one or two refuse deposits. Conversely, seven species were found in 10 or more refuse deposits, indicating a certain level of habitat specialization. We matched adults and immatures for 22 beetle species via DNA barcodes, demonstrating that army ant middens also serve as a beetle nursery. The present survey highlights the significant ecological function of army ants as promoters of biodiversity and their status as keystone species in tropical rainforests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph von Beeren
- Department of BiologyTechnical University of DarmstadtDarmstadtGermany
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and BehaviorThe Rockefeller UniversityNew YorkNew YorkUSA
| | - Sebastian Pohl
- NUS CollegeNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
- Division of ScienceYale‐NUS CollegeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Martin Fikáček
- Department of Biological SciencesNational Sun Yat‐sen UniversityKaohsiungTaiwan
- Department of EntomologyNational MuseumPragueCzech Republic
| | | | - Alexey K. Tishechkin
- California State Collection of ArthropodsCalifornia Department of Food and AgricultureSacramentoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Shûhei Yamamoto
- The Hokkaido University MuseumHokkaido UniversitySapporoJapan
| | | | - Dagmara Żyła
- Museum of Nature HamburgLeibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity ChangeHamburgGermany
| | - Alexandra Tokareva
- Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of SciencesWarsawPoland
| | | | | | - Liliana P. Sandoval
- Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental SciencesCzech University of Life Sciences PraguePraha — SuchdolCzech Republic
| | - Daniel J. C. Kronauer
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and BehaviorThe Rockefeller UniversityNew YorkNew YorkUSA
- Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNew YorkNew YorkUSA
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Rheindt FE, Bouchard P, Pyle RL, Welter-Schultes F, Aescht E, Ahyong ST, Ballerio A, Bourgoin T, Ceríaco LMP, Dmitriev D, Evenhuis N, Grygier MJ, Harvey MS, Kottelat M, Kluge N, Krell FT, Kojima JI, Kullander SO, Lucinda P, Lyal CHC, Scioscia CL, Whitmore D, Yanega D, Zhang ZQ, Zhou HZ, Pape T. Tightening the requirements for species diagnoses would help integrate DNA-based descriptions in taxonomic practice. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002251. [PMID: 37607211 PMCID: PMC10443861 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Modern advances in DNA sequencing hold the promise of facilitating descriptions of new organisms at ever finer precision but have come with challenges as the major Codes of bionomenclature contain poorly defined requirements for species and subspecies diagnoses (henceforth, species diagnoses), which is particularly problematic for DNA-based taxonomy. We, the commissioners of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, advocate a tightening of the definition of "species diagnosis" in future editions of Codes of bionomenclature, for example, through the introduction of requirements for specific information on the character states of differentiating traits in comparison with similar species. Such new provisions would enhance taxonomic standards and ensure that all diagnoses, including DNA-based ones, contain adequate taxonomic context. Our recommendations are intended to spur discussion among biologists, as broad community consensus is critical ahead of the implementation of new editions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and other Codes of bionomenclature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank E. Rheindt
- National University of Singapore, Department of Biological Sciences, Singapore
| | - Patrice Bouchard
- Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Richard L. Pyle
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America
| | - Francisco Welter-Schultes
- Abteilung Evolution und Biodiversität der Tiere und Zoologisches Museum, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Erna Aescht
- Biology Centre of the Upper Austrian Museum, Linz, Austria
| | - Shane T. Ahyong
- Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia
| | | | - Thierry Bourgoin
- Institut Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université-EPHE- Université des Antilles, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Luis M. P. Ceríaco
- Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Dmitry Dmitriev
- Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Neal Evenhuis
- Department of Natural Sciences, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America
| | - Mark J. Grygier
- National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Checheng, Taiwan
| | - Mark S. Harvey
- Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool DC, Australia
| | | | - Nikita Kluge
- Department of Entomology, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Frank-T. Krell
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Jun-ichi Kojima
- Natural History Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Ibaraki University, Mito, Japan
| | - Sven O. Kullander
- Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Paulo Lucinda
- Laboratório de Ictiologia Sistemática, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Tocantins, Brazil
| | | | - Cristina Luisa Scioscia
- Arachnology Division, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Daniel Whitmore
- Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Douglas Yanega
- Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, United States of America
| | - Zhi-Qiang Zhang
- Manaaki Whenua–Landcare Research, Auckland, New Zealand
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Hong-Zhang Zhou
- Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Thomas Pape
- Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Sharkey MJ, Tucker EM, Baker A, Smith MA, Ratnasingham S, Manjunath R, Hebert P, Hallwachs W, Janzen D. More discussion of minimalist species descriptions and clarifying some misconceptions contained in Meier et al. 2021. Zookeys 2022; 1110:135-149. [PMID: 36761452 PMCID: PMC9848685 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1110.85491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
This is a response to a preprint version of "A re-analysis of the data in Sharkey et al.'s (2021) minimalist revision reveals that BINs do not deserve names, but BOLD Systems needs a stronger commitment to open science", https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.28.441626v2. Meier et al. strongly criticized Sharkey et al.'s publication in which 403 new species were deliberately minimally described, based primarily on COI barcode sequence data. Here we respond to these criticisms. The following points are made: 1) Sharkey et al. did not equate BINs with species, as demonstrated in several examples in which multiple species were found to be in single BINs. 2) We reiterate that BINs were used as a preliminary sorting tool, just as preliminary morphological identification commonly sorts specimens based on color and size into unit trays; despite BINs and species concepts matching well over 90% of species, this matching does not equate to equality. 3) Consensus barcodes were used only to provide a diagnosis to conform to the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature just as consensus morphological diagnoses are. The barcode of a holotype is definitive and simply part of its cellular morphology. 4) Minimalist revisions will facilitate and accelerate future taxonomic research, not hinder it. 5) We refute the claim that the BOLD sequences of Plesiocoelusvanachterbergi are pseudogenes and demonstrate that they simply represent a frameshift mutation. 6) We reassert our observation that morphological evidence alone is insufficient to recognize species within species-rich higher taxa and that its usefulness lies in character states that are congruent with molecular data. 7) We show that in the cases in which COI barcodes code for the same amino acids in different putative species, data from morphology, host specificity, and other ecological traits reaffirm their utility as indicators of genetically distinct lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Austin Baker
- Department of Biological Sciences and Center for Biodiversity Research, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - M. Alex Smith
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Ramya Manjunath
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Paul Hebert
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Winnie Hallwachs
- Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daniel Janzen
- Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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