A review of the primary types of the Hawaiian stag beetle genus Apterocyclus Waterhouse (Coleoptera, Lucanidae, Lucaninae), with the description of a new species.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Paulsen MJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4141180 | biostudies-literature | 2014
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Male stag beetles (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) use their mandibles as weapons to compete for resources and reproduction. Mandible size in stag beetles can be associated with different behaviours and the outcome of male contests. We investigated the allometric relationship between mandible and body size in males of the stag beetle Cyclommatus mniszechi to uncover distinct morphs. The results divided male C. mniszechi into majors and minors with the switch point of mandible length at 14.01 mm. The allometric slope of mandibles was positive for both morphs but was steeper for the minors. We also characterised the fighting behaviour of the different morphs in size-matched contests using sequential analyses. Males matched each other's behaviour in contests with many physical contacts, no injury and a progression from low towards high aggression and rare de-escalation. Major and minor males employed the same behavioural elements in contests, but major males were more likely to escalate directly into more aggressive phases and minor males tended to stay within phases. This finding suggests that major males may compete more aggressively than minor males in contests.
| S-EPMC7074643 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe stag beetle Lucanus cervus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) is widely distributed in Europe. Habitat loss and fragmentation has led to significant reductions in numbers of this species. In this study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of L. cervus and reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among Lucanidae using complete mitochondrial genome sequences.MethodsRaw data sequences were generated by the next generation sequencing using Illumina platform from genomic DNA of L. cervus. The mitochondrial genome was assembled by IDBA and annotated by MITOS. The aligned sequences of mitochondrial genes were partitioned using PartitionFinder 2. Phylogenetic relationships among 19 stag beetle species were constructed using Maximum Likelihood (ML) method implemented in IQ-TREE web server and Bayesian method implemented in PhyloBayes MPI 1.5a. Three scarab beetles were used as outgroups.ResultsThe complete mitochondrial genome of L. cervus is 20,109 bp in length, comprising 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNAs and a control region. The A + T content is 69.93% for the majority strand. All protein-coding genes start with the typical ATN initiation codons except for cox1, which uses AAT. Phylogenetic analyses based on ML and Bayesian methods shown consistent topologies among Lucanidae.
| S-EPMC6925956 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although stag beetles are popular saprophytic insects, there are few studies about their gut bacterial community. This study focused on the gut bacterial community structure of the rainbow stag beetle (i.e., Phalacrognathus muelleri) in its larvae (three instars) and adult stages, using high throughput sequencing (Illumina Miseq). Our aim was to compare the gut bacterial community structure among different life stages. The results revealed that bacterial alpha diversity increased from the 1st instar to the 3rd instar larvae. Adults showed the lowest gut bacterial alpha diversity. Bacterial community composition was significantly different between larvae and adults (p = 0.001), and 1st instar larvae (early instar) had significant differences with the 2nd (p= 0.007) and 3rd (p = 0.001) instar larvae (final instar). However, there was little difference in the bacterial community composition between the 2nd and 3rd instar larvae (p = 0.059). Our study demonstrated dramatic shifts in gut bacterial community structure between larvae and adults. Larvae fed on decaying wood and adults fed on beetle jelly, suggesting that diet is a crucial factor shaping the gut bacterial community structure. There were significant differences in bacterial community structure between early instar and final instars larvae, suggesting that certain life stages are associated with a defined gut bacterial community.
| S-EPMC7589407 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The taxonomy of stag beetles (coleopteraLucanidae) remains challenging, mainly due to the sexual dimorphism and the strong allometry in males. Such conjecture confounds taxonomic based conservation efforts that are urgently needed due to numerous threats to stag beetle biodiversity. Molecular tools could help solve the problem of identification of the different recognized taxa in the "Lucanus cervus complex" and in some related Palaearctic species. We investigated the potential use of a 670 bp region at the 3' end of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) for barcoding purposes (different from the standard COI barcoding region). Well resolved species and subspecies were L. tetraodon, L. cervusakbesianus, L. c. laticornis, as well as the two eastern Asian outgroup taxa L. formosanus and L. hermani. Conversely, certain taxa could not be distinguished from each other based on K2P-distances and tree topologies: L. c. fabiani / L. (P.) barbarossa, L. c. judaicus / an unknown Lucanus species, L. c. cervus / L. c. turcicus / L. c. pentaphyllus / L. (P.) macrophyllus / L. ibericus. The relative roles of phenotypic plasticity, recurrent hybridisation and incomplete lineage sorting underlying taxonomic and phylogenetic discordances are discussed.
| S-EPMC3890674 | biostudies-literature
Project description:When male animals engage in intrasexual contests then any alternative tactics they use can be associated with dimorphisms in the expression of weapons. Some species have recently been found to exhibit trimorphism in their weaponry, suggesting that the processes leading to their evolution and maintenance of these polymorphisms can be more complex than previously thought. Here, we describe the extraordinary diversity of polymorphism within the genus Odontolabis: there are dimorphic species (O. siva and O. platynota), trimorphic species (O. cuvera, as previously described, and O. sommeri s.stricto) and, uniquely, tetramorphic species, with males of O. sommeri lowei and O. brookeana showing four clearly differentiated male morphs: small "Gammas", "Alphas" which express large, long mandibles, "Betas" which have long mandibles with different morphology and "Boltcutters", with short, wide mandibles. Such polymorphisms are usually thought of as being maintained as a status-dependent conditional strategy, but we found only one size threshold: in most cases males develop into Gamma males below a certain size but there is no relationship between morph and body size amongst the larger, 'weaponised' morphs. We suggest that the complex polymorphisms in these animals are probably maintained by a combination of a conditional strategy and a genetic polymorphism.
| S-EPMC5711891 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Taxonomic debates have been carrying on for decades over Formosan stag beetles, which consist of a high proportion of endemic species and subspecies featuring morphological variations associated with local adaptation. With the influence of periodical Pleistocene glaciations and the presence of several mountain ranges, the genetic differentiation and taxonomic recognition, within this medium-size island, of two endemic subspecies for each of four montane stag beetles, i.e. Lucanus ogakii, L. kanoi, Prismognathus davidis, and Neolucanus doro, has been an appealing issue. Based on monophyletic lineages and population structure, possible divergent scenarios have been proposed to clarify the subspecific status for each of the above mentioned stag beetles. Phylogenetic inferences based on COI+16S rDNA+28S rDNA of 240 Formosan lucanids have confirmed most species are monophyletic groups; and the intraspecific (<2%) and interspecific (>2%) genetic distances of the two mitochondrial genes could be applied concordantly for taxonomic identification. On account of Bayesian-based species delimitation, geographic distribution, population structure, and sequence divergences, the subspecific status for L. ogakii, L. kanoi, and Pri. davidis are congruent with their geographic distribution in this island; and the calibration time based on the mitochondrial genes shows the subspecific split events occurred 0.7-1 million years ago. In addition, a more complicated scenario, i.e. genetic differentiation including introgression/hybridization events, might have occurred among L. ogakii, L. kanoi, and L. maculifemoratus. The geological effects of mountain hindrance accompanied by periodical glaciations could have been vital in leading to the geographical subspecific differentiation of these montane stag beetles.
| S-EPMC4892689 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although conspicuous and well-studied, stag beetles have been slow to join the genomic era. In this study, mitochondrial genomes of two stag beetles, Sinodendron yunnanense and Prosopocoilus confucius, are sequenced for the first time. Both of their genomes consisted of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and a control region. The mitogenome of S. yunnanense was 16,921 bp in length, and P. confucius was 16,951 bp. The location of the gene trnL(UUR), between the A + T-rich and control region in S. yunnanense, is the first observed in Lucanidae. In P. confucius, an unexpected noncoding region of 580 bp was discovered. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference on the 13 mitochondrial PCGs were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships among 12 representative stag beetles and three scarab beetles. The topology of the two phylogenetic trees was almost identical: S. yunnanense was recovered as the most basal Lucanid, and the genus Prosopocoilus was polyphyletic due to P. gracilis being recovered sister to the genera Dorcus and Hemisodorcus. The phylogenetic results, genetic distances and mitogenomic characteristics call into question the cohesion of the genus Prosopocoilus. The genetic resources and findings herein attempts to redress understudied systematics and mitogenomics of the stag beetles.
| S-EPMC5469381 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A new species of diplogastrid nematode, Leptojacobus dorci n. gen., n. sp., was isolated from adults of the stag beetle Dorcus ritsemae (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) that were purchased from a pet shop in Japan. Leptojacobus n. gen. is circumscribed by a very thin, delicate body and by a small stoma with minute armature. A combination of other stomatal characters, namely the division of the cheilostom into adradial plates, the symmetry of the subventral stegostomatal sectors, and the presence of a thin, conical dorsal tooth, further distinguishes Leptojacobus n. gen. from other genera of Diplogastridae. Phylogenetic analysis of nearly full-length SSU rRNA sequences support the new species, together with an isolate identified previously as Koerneria luziae, to be excluded from a clade including all other molecularly characterized diplogastrids with teeth and stomatal dimorphism. Therefore, the new species will be of importance for reconstruction of ancestral character histories in Diplogastridae, a family circumscribed by a suite of feeding-related novelties.
| S-EPMC3957572 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Odontolabis fallaciosa (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) is a giant and popular stag beetle with striking sexual dimorphism and male trimorphism. However, little is known about their intestinal microbiota, which might play an indispensable role in shaping the health of their hosts. The aim of this study was to investigate the intestinal bacterial community structure between the two sexes and among three male morphs of O. fallaciosa from China using high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq). The gut bacterial community structure was significantly different between males and females, suggesting that sex appeared to be the crucial factor shaping the intestinal bacterial community. Females had higher bacterial alpha-diversity than males. There was little difference in gut bacterial community structure among the three male morphs. However, compared to medium and small males, large individuals were associated with the higher relative abundance of Firmicutes and Firmicutes/Bacteroides (F/B) ratio, which might contribute to nutritional efficiency. Overall, these results might help to further our understanding of beetle-bacterial interactions of O. fallaciosa between the two sexes, and among the three male morphs.
| S-EPMC7764088 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cyclommatus scutellaris Möllenkamp, 1912, Cyclommatus elsae Kriesche, 1921 and Cyclommatus tamdaoensis Fujita, 2010 are East Asian stag beetle species with long-debated taxonomic relationships due to high intraspecific morphological variability. In this study, we applied multilocus phylogenetic analyses to reassess their relationships. Two mitochondrial genes (16S rDNA, COI) and two nuclear genes (28S rDNA, Wingless) were used to reconstruct the phylogeny through the Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods. Both topologies supported two clades: the clade C. scutellaris was sister to the clade (C. elsae + C. tamdaoensis) with the subclade C. tamdaoensis embedded in the subclade C. elsae. The Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) genetic distance analysis yielded a low mean value (≤0.035) among the three taxa, which was well below the minimum mean value between other Cyclommatus species (≥0.122). We also compared the accuracy and efficiency of two approaches, GMYC and ABGD, in delimitating the three lineages. The result shows that ABGD is a better approach than GMYC. Our molecular data recognizes the three species as different populations of a single species, ranging from Taiwan Island to the continent. Therefore, we propose two new junior synonyms for C. scutellaris: C. tamdaoensis, syn. nov. and C. elsae syn. nov.
| S-EPMC7943532 | biostudies-literature