Unknown

Dataset Information

0

A Mesozoic clown beetle myrmecophile (Coleoptera: Histeridae).


ABSTRACT: Complex interspecies relationships are widespread among metazoans, but the evolutionary history of these lifestyles is poorly understood. We describe a fossil beetle in 99-million-year-old Burmese amber that we infer to have been a social impostor of the earliest-known ant colonies. Promyrmister kistneri gen. et sp. nov. belongs to the haeteriine clown beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae), a major clade of 'myrmecophiles'-specialized nest intruders with dramatic anatomical, chemical and behavioral adaptations for colony infiltration. Promyrmister reveals that myrmecophiles evolved close to the emergence of ant eusociality, in colonies of stem-group ants that predominate Burmese amber, or with cryptic crown-group ants that remain largely unknown at this time. The clown beetle-ant relationship has been maintained ever since by the beetles host-switching to numerous modern ant genera, ultimately diversifying into one of the largest radiations of symbiotic animals. We infer that obligate behavioral symbioses can evolve relatively rapidly, and be sustained over deep time.

SUBMITTER: Zhou YL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6467565 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications

A Mesozoic clown beetle myrmecophile (Coleoptera: Histeridae).

Zhou Yu-Lingzi YL   Ślipiński Adam A   Ren Dong D   Parker Joseph J  

eLife 20190416


Complex interspecies relationships are widespread among metazoans, but the evolutionary history of these lifestyles is poorly understood. We describe a fossil beetle in 99-million-year-old Burmese amber that we infer to have been a social impostor of the earliest-known ant colonies. <i>Promyrmister kistneri</i> gen. et sp. nov. belongs to the haeteriine clown beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae), a major clade of 'myrmecophiles'-specialized nest intruders with dramatic anatomical, chemical and behav  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC5514177 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC3337049 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3950425 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4137301 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3935226 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4319064 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4740836 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC4137315 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6579788 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5806595 | biostudies-literature