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Insects
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Ants as Partners and Hosts
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Ants as Partners and Hosts

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2020) | Viewed by 14480

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Donato Antonio Grasso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Interests: behavioural ecology and sociobiology, biology of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and other insects studied with a multidisciplinary approach (behavioural, morpho-functional, ecological and evolutionary)
Prof. Claire Detrain

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology of Organisms, Unit of Social Ecology, 50 Avenue F. Roosevelt, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
Interests: ethology; behavioural ecology; mutualism; social immunity; ant-plant relationships; ants as a tool in robotics and swarm intelligence

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The numerical dominance and ecological ubiquity of ants have led them to interact with many different organisms co-existing in the same biotope, thereby leading to an exceptionally wide range of relationships— from mutualistic to detrimental ones.

The complexity of their social organization allows the ants to control their physical environment, to overcome competitors and to exploit resources in an efficient way. This makes the ants an ideal partner for developing mutualistic relationships. On the other side, the same properties, as well as their ubiquity and the increased sanitary risks associated to their social life, make the ants a suitable target for parasites and pathogens, at different levels of the biological organization, from the individual to the superorganism.

Ants can thus establish a complex network of interactions with virtually every biotic component of their ecosystems, ranging from microorganisms to fungi, and from other animals to plants. This Special Issue will include original research articles and reviews by leading research entomologists and associated experts. Articles will focus on the latest developments in the study of interactions involving ants as partners or hosts of other organisms, from parasitism and opportunism to occasional mutualism and obligate symbiosis.

We feel this topic may be of general interest since interactions among organisms, even belonging to different kingdoms, are receiving increasing attention both for their ecological implications and as an interpretative tool in evolutionary and behavioural biology, genetics, immunology, development and physiology.

Prof. Donato Antonio Grasso
Prof. Claire Detrain
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • behavioural ecology
  • ants
  • parasitism
  • opportunism
  • mutualism
  • symbiosis

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1520 KiB  
Article
Prophylactic Avoidance of Hazardous Prey by the Ant Host Myrmica rubra
by Hugo Pereira and Claire Detrain
Insects 2020, 11(7), 444; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects11070444 - 14 Jul 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2398
Abstract
Ants are the hosts of many microorganisms, including pathogens that are incidentally brought inside the nest by foragers. This is particularly true for scavenging species, which collect hazardous food such as dead insects. Foragers limit sanitary risks by not retrieving highly infectious prey [...] Read more.
Ants are the hosts of many microorganisms, including pathogens that are incidentally brought inside the nest by foragers. This is particularly true for scavenging species, which collect hazardous food such as dead insects. Foragers limit sanitary risks by not retrieving highly infectious prey releasing entomopathogenic fungal spores. This study investigates whether similar prophylactic strategies are also developed for food associated with weak or delayed risks of fungal contamination. We compared, in Myrmica rubra ant colonies, the retrieval dynamics of dead flies that were (1) conidia-free, (2) covered with a low amount of Metarhizium brunneum entomopathogenic conidia or (3) recently fungus-killed but not yet sporulating. Foragers mostly avoided fungus-killed prey and delayed the retrieval of conidia-covered flies. A second sanitary filter occurred inside the nest through a careful inspection of the retrieved prey. Ultimately, ants mostly consumed conidia-free and conidia-covered flies, but they relocated and discarded all fungus-killed prey outside of the nest. Our study confirms that, as a host of generalist entomopathogenic fungi, Myrmica rubra ants have developed a prophylactic avoidance and a differential management of prey depending on their infectious potential. We discuss the functional value as well as the possible cues underlying pathogen avoidance and prey discrimination in ants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ants as Partners and Hosts)
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19 pages, 8588 KiB  
Article
Gall-Colonizing Ants and Their Role as Plant Defenders: From ’Bad Job’ to ’Useful Service’
by Daniele Giannetti, Cristina Castracani, Fiorenza A. Spotti, Alessandra Mori and Donato A. Grasso
Insects 2019, 10(11), 392; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects10110392 - 06 Nov 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3993
Abstract
Galls are neoformed structures on host plant tissues caused by the attack of insects or other organisms. They support different communities of specialized parasitic insects (the gall inducers), and can also provide refuge to other insects, such as moths, beetles and ants, referred [...] Read more.
Galls are neoformed structures on host plant tissues caused by the attack of insects or other organisms. They support different communities of specialized parasitic insects (the gall inducers), and can also provide refuge to other insects, such as moths, beetles and ants, referred to as secondary occupants. This study focuses on galls induced by the oak gall wasp Andricus quercustozae and secondarily colonized by ants in a mixed oak forest. A field survey and two experiments were carried out to a) study ant (species-specific) preferences for different features of the galls, b) describe differences in gall architecture due to ant activity, c) analyse the effects of the presence of gall-dwelling ants on plant health. The results show that there are differences between ant species in gall colonization and in the alteration of gall opening and inner structure. We verified that gall-dwelling ants protect their host plants efficiently, offering them an indirect defence mechanism against enemies (predators and pathogens). The data suggest a new paradigm in ant–plant relationships mediated by the presence of galls on the plants whose ecological and evolutionary implications are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ants as Partners and Hosts)
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17 pages, 1525 KiB  
Article
Do Host Plant and Associated Ant Species Affect Microbial Communities in Myrmecophytes?
by Mario X. Ruiz-González, Céline Leroy, Alain Dejean, Hervé Gryta, Patricia Jargeat, Angelo D. Armijos Carrión and Jérôme Orivel
Insects 2019, 10(11), 391; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects10110391 - 06 Nov 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2968
Abstract
Ant-associated microorganisms can play crucial and often overlooked roles, and given the diversity of interactions that ants have developed, the study of the associated microbiomes is of interest. We focused here on specialist plant-ant species of the genus Allomerus that grow a fungus [...] Read more.
Ant-associated microorganisms can play crucial and often overlooked roles, and given the diversity of interactions that ants have developed, the study of the associated microbiomes is of interest. We focused here on specialist plant-ant species of the genus Allomerus that grow a fungus to build galleries on their host-plant stems. Allomerus-inhabited domatia, thus, might be a rich arena for microbes associated with the ants, the plant, and the fungus. We investigated the microbial communities present in domatia colonised by four arboreal ants: Allomerus decemarticulatus, A. octoarticulatus, A. octoarticulatus var. demerarae, and the non-fungus growing plant-ant Azteca sp. cf. depilis, inhabiting Hirtella physophora or Cordia nodosa in French Guiana. We hypothesized that the microbial community will differ among these species. We isolated microorganisms from five colonies of each species, sequenced the 16S rRNA or Internal TranscribedSpacer (ITS) regions, and described both the alpha and beta diversities. We identified 69 microbial taxa, which belong to five bacterial and two fungal phyla. The most diverse phyla were Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. The microbial community of Azteca cf. depilis and Allomerus spp. differed in composition and richness. Geographical distance affected microbial communities and richness but plant species did not. Actinobacteria were only associated with Allomerus spp. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ants as Partners and Hosts)
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19 pages, 2250 KiB  
Case Report
First Insight into Microbiome Profiles of Myrmecophilous Beetles and Their Host, Red Wood Ant Formica polyctena (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)—A Case Study
by Agnieszka Kaczmarczyk-Ziemba, Mirosław Zagaja, Grzegorz K. Wagner, Ewa Pietrykowska-Tudruj and Bernard Staniec
Insects 2020, 11(2), 134; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/insects11020134 - 19 Feb 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4034
Abstract
Formica polyctena belongs to the red wood ant species group. Its nests provide a stable, food rich, and temperature and humidity controlled environment, utilized by a wide range of species, called myrmecophiles. Here, we used the high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene [...] Read more.
Formica polyctena belongs to the red wood ant species group. Its nests provide a stable, food rich, and temperature and humidity controlled environment, utilized by a wide range of species, called myrmecophiles. Here, we used the high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene on the Illumina platform for identification of the microbiome profiles of six selected myrmecophilous beetles (Dendrophilus pygmaeus, Leptacinus formicetorum, Monotoma angusticollis, Myrmechixenus subterraneus, Ptenidium formicetorum and Thiasophila angulata) and their host F. polyctena. Analyzed bacterial communities consisted of a total of 23 phyla, among which Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were the most abundant. Two known endosymbionts—Wolbachia and Rickettsia—were found in the analyzed microbiome profiles and Wolbachia was dominant in bacterial communities associated with F. polyctena, M. subterraneus, L. formicetorum and P. formicetorum (>90% of reads). In turn, M. angusticollis was co-infected with both Wolbachia and Rickettsia, while in the microbiome of T. angulata, the dominance of Rickettsia has been observed. The relationships among the microbiome profiles were complex, and no relative abundance pattern common to all myrmecophilous beetles tested was observed. However, some subtle, species-specific patterns have been observed for bacterial communities associated with D. pygmaeus, M. angusticollis, and T. angulata. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ants as Partners and Hosts)
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