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Wang Z, Vilhelmsen L, Rasnitsyn AP, Viertler A, Shih C, Wen S, Yang H, Wu Q, Zhang Y, Ren D, Gao T. Specialized ovipositor sensilla of Cretaceous wasps (Insecta: Hymenoptera) possibly reveal a unique way of host detection. Cladistics 2024. [PMID: 38712908 DOI: 10.1111/cla.12579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Insects have evolved complex sensory systems that are important for feeding, defence and reproduction. Parasitoid wasps often spend much time and effort in searching for concealed hosts with the help of specialized sensilla. However, the early evolution of such behaviour and sensilla is poorly known. We describe two fossil female wasps, †Tichostephanus kachinensis sp. nov. and †Tichostephanus longus sp. nov., from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Phylogenetic analyses based on morphological data retrieved †Tichostephanus as deeply nested within Evanioidea and closely related to extant Gasteruptiidae and Evaniidae. Both of these Cretaceous wasps possess features, e.g. coronal tubercles and flexible ovipositor sheaths, that indicate that they might have laid eggs in wood where their larvae possibly parasitized insect larvae. They have a peculiar and unique 'bottle brush' of sensilla close to the apex of their ovipositor sheaths, which has not been observed in any extant parasitoid wasps. These sensilla comprise many regularly arranged plate-shaped setae, attached in relatively large sockets and with rows of longitudinal ridges. Such specialized sensilla perhaps served to enhance the ability to detect hosts inside wood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Wang
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - Lars Vilhelmsen
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Alexandr P Rasnitsyn
- A. A. Borissiak Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117647, Moscow, Russia
- Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Alexandra Viertler
- Natural History Museum Basel, Augustinerstrasse 2, 4051, Basel, Switzerland
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Chungkun Shih
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013, USA
| | - Shanshan Wen
- Huxuan Museum, 58-10 Maanshanlu, Shizhong District, Jinan, Shandong, 250000, China
| | - Hongru Yang
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - Qiong Wu
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - Yanjie Zhang
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - Dong Ren
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
| | - Taiping Gao
- College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China
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Sansom TM, Oberst S, Richter A, Lai JCS, Saadatfar M, Nowotny M, Evans TA. Low radiodensity μCT scans to reveal detailed morphology of the termite leg and its subgenual organ. ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT 2022; 70:101191. [PMID: 35816830 DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2022.101191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2021] [Revised: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Termites sense tiny substrate-borne vibrations through subgenual organs (SGOs) located within their legs' tibiae. Little is known about the SGOs' structure and physical properties. We applied high-resolution (voxel size 0.45 μm) micro-computed tomography (μCT) to Australian termites, Coptotermes lacteus and Nasutitermes exitiosus (Hill) to test two staining techniques. We compared the effectiveness of a single stain of Lugol's iodine solution (LS) to LS followed by Phosphotungstic acid (PTA) solutions (1% and 2%). We then present results of a soldier of Nasutitermes exitiosus combining μCT with LS + 2%PTS stains and scanning electron microscopy to exemplify the visualisation of their SGOs. The termite's SGO due to its approximately oval shape was shown to have a maximum diameter of 60 μm and a minimum of 48 μm, covering 60 ± 4% of the leg's cross-section and 90.4 ± 5% of the residual haemolymph channel. Additionally, the leg and residual haemolymph channel cross-sectional area decreased around the SGO by 33% and 73%, respectively. We hypothesise that this change in cross-sectional area amplifies the vibrations for the SGO. Since SGOs are directly connected to the cuticle, their mechanical properties and the geometric details identified here may enable new approaches to determine how termites sense micro-vibrations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travers M Sansom
- University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Audio, Acoustics and Vibration, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia.
| | - Sebastian Oberst
- University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Audio, Acoustics and Vibration, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia; School of Engineering and IT, University of New South Wales Canberra, Northcott Dr, Campbell ACT, 2612, Australia.
| | - Adrian Richter
- Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
| | - Joseph C S Lai
- School of Engineering and IT, University of New South Wales Canberra, Northcott Dr, Campbell ACT, 2612, Australia
| | - Mohammad Saadatfar
- School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, 2006, Sydney, Australia
| | - Manuela Nowotny
- Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
| | - Theodore A Evans
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
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Mesaglio T, Shaw SR. Observations of oviposition behaviour in the long‐tailed wasp
Megalyra fasciipennis
Westwood, 1832 (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae). AUSTRAL ECOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.13163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Mesaglio
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW Sydney Sydney New South Wales 2052 Australia
| | - Scott R. Shaw
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management (3354) University of Wyoming 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie Wyoming 82071 USA
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Vilhelmsen L, Turrisi GF. Per arborem ad astra: morphological adaptations to exploiting the woody habitat in the early evolution of Hymenoptera. ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT 2011; 40:2-20. [PMID: 20951828 DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2010.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2010] [Revised: 10/07/2010] [Accepted: 10/07/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
We survey morphological features of larval and adult wasps that undergo their entire larval development inside wood and interpret them in view of the lifestyle. The evolution of some of the characters is explored by mapping them on a recently published phylogeny of Hymenoptera. Based on this phylogeny, it is reasonable to assume that wood-living wasps evolved from a xylophagous/mycetophagous stage as displayed by woodwasps to a carnivorous/parasitoid lifestyle, preying on woodboring insect larvae. The latter mode of life is probably ancestral to the Apocrita which comprise the majority of the order; they share this lifestyle with their sister group, the Orussidae. However, most apocritan wasps have radiated into other habitats, the Orussidae and Stephanidae apparently being the only taxa that have retained the ancestral lifestyle of carnivorous wasps. Other apocritan lineages associated with wood (e.g., Aulacidae, Megalyridae, basal Cynipoidea and some Ichneumonoidea and Chalcidoidea) possibly entered this habitat secondarily and independently acquired morphological traits associated with it. The woody habitat was occupied by Hymenoptera during a crucial stage in their evolution where the transition from the phytophagous to carnivorous lifestyle took place. The anatomy of both larva and adults was extensively transformed in the process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Vilhelmsen
- Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitets parken 15, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Turrisi GF, Jennings JT, Vilhelmsen L. Phylogeny and generic concepts of the parasitoid wasp family Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). INVERTEBR SYST 2009. [DOI: 10.1071/is08031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The results of the first phylogenetic investigation of members of the Aulacidae of the world are presented. The main objective was to test the monophyly of the currently recognised genera. In total, 79 morphological characters were scored for a substantial sample of the extant aulacid fauna, including 72 species, as well as 12 outgroup taxa belonging to Evaniidae, Gasteruptiidae, Megalyridae, Trigonalidae, Braconidae and Stephanidae. All zoogeographic regions were represented. The dataset was analysed under different conditions (ordered, unordered, equal and implied weighting). The results under different weighting conditions are not fully congruent and many relationships remain unresolved. However, the analyses demonstrate that the current generic classification of the Aulacidae is not a natural one. There is support for a very large, monophyletic clade which includes all Pristaulacus Kieffer spp. + Panaulix Benoit spp. This suggests a wider generic concept for Pristaulacus, which is redefined and rediagnosed here. As a consequence, Panaulix becomes a junior synonym of Pristaulacus (syn. nov.), and the two described species of Panaulix are transferred to Pristaulacus: Pristaulacus rex (Benoit, 1984), comb. nov., and Pristaulacus irenae (Madl, 1990), comb. nov. The genus Aulacus Jurine was consistently paraphyletic and is not valid as currently defined. Furthermore, we failed to retrieve a consistent topology among the different clades of Aulacus. A satisfactory reclassification of Aulacus, however, requires a much more comprehensive taxon sample and/or additional character data.
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