Dataset Information

Cophylogenetic relationships between Anicetus parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and their scale insect hosts (Hemiptera: Coccidae).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Numerous studies have investigated cospeciation between parasites and their hosts, but there have been few studies concerning parasitoids and insect hosts. The high diversity and host specialization observed in Anicetus species suggest that speciation and adaptive radiation might take place with species diversification in scale insect hosts. Here we examined the evolutionary history of the association between Anicetus species and their scale insect hosts via distance-based and tree-based methods.

Results

A total of 94 Anicetus individuals (nine parasitoid species) and 113 scale insect individuals (seven host species) from 14 provinces in China were collected in the present study. DNA sequence data from a mitochondrial gene (COI) and a nuclear ribosomal gene (28S D2 region) were used to reconstruct the phylogenies of Anicetus species and their hosts. The distance-based analysis showed a significant fit between Anicetus species and their hosts, but tree-based analyses suggested that this significant signal could be observed only when the cost of host-switching was high, indicating the presence of parasite sorting on related host species.

Conclusions

This study, based on extensive rearing of parasitoids and species identification, provides strong evidence for a prevalence of sorting events and high host specificity in the genus Anicetus, offering insights into the diversification process of Anicetus species parasitizing scale insects.

SUBMITTER: Deng J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3878026 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:This study investigated the effects of ant attendance on the parasitoid community and parasitism of lac insect Kerria yunnanensis aggregations in Yunnan province, China. We manipulated ant attendance to establish three treatments: (1) ant exclusion; (2) low ant attendance by several ant species; and (3) high ant attendance by Crematogaster macaoensis. Five parasitoid species were collected, with two species contributing 82.7 and 13.2% of total abundance respectively. Total parasitoid abundance was lowest in the February sample when K. yunnanensis was in its younger life stage, being significantly lower in the ant exclusion treatment. In April, all three treatments had significantly different parasitoid abundances, being highest in the ant exclusion treatment and the lowest in the high ant attendance treatment. When ants were present, there were strong negative relationships between total parasitoid abundance and ant abundance, with the relationships being dependent upon the ant species composition and abundance. The patterns of total parasitoid abundance were driven by the two most abundant parasitoid species. Parasitoid species richness did not differ among treatments or between sample times, however, multivariate analysis confirmed that overall parasitoid community structure differed significantly among treatments and between sample times, with the high ant attendance treatment differing most from the other two treatments. Interestingly the absence of ants did not result in increased parasitism from four of the five parasitoids. Ants in lac insect farming systems have a clear role for agricultural pest management. A full understanding of the asymmetric abilities of ants to influence parasitoid communities, and affect parasitism of hosts will require further experimental manipulation to assess the relative roles of 1) the abundance of each individual ant species on parasitoid access to hosts, 2) competition among parasitoids, and 3) the interaction between the first two factors.