Mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants

Thomas, J. A.; Elmes, G. W.; Sielezniew, Marcin; Stankiewicz-Fiedurek, Anna; Simcox, D. J.; Settele, Josef; Schönrogge, Karsten

doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2336

Cited by 37 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The cuckoo strategy requires more perfect mimicry, i.e. precise adaptation to the specific host ant (Thomas et al 2015). Accurate local adaptation in the cuckoo M. alcon would lead to an even higher level of differentiation among the populations than genetic drift would do alone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting genetic structure in cuckoo and predatory Maculinea butterflies

et al. 2015

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In Europe, both Maculinea alcon and M. teleius frequently co-occur inhabiting humid meadows. Although their parasitic life cycle is similar, ecological differences have been demonstrated between them: (i) spatial distribution of their eggs is different, and (ii) M. alcon is a cuckoo species, while M. teleius is predatory. The aim of the present study is to identify the genetic consequences of the ecological differences between these two butterfly species. To do so, we studied the genetic structure in samples from 9 M. alcon and 16 M. teleius sites obtained from the Carpathian Basin using 16 polymorphic enzyme markers. Both species exhibited relatively low enzyme polymorphism compared to other lycaenid species. Nevertheless, all measures of variation were significantly higher in M. teleius than in M. alcon. Genetic differentiation, however, was generally higher among M. alcon populations as compared to M. teleius. Moreover, the results of Bayesian clustering indicated a clear regional pattern with three well-defined cluster regions in M. alcon. In contrast, the regional pattern was less evident in M. teleius where we found three comparatively less distinct cluster regions. Putatively adaptive genetic differences were detected among cluster regions exploiting different host ants in M. alcon, while they were less evident in M. teleius. These results conform to our predictions on the differences between the utilization of their host ants. Since the pattern of genetic differentiation is different in the two Maculinea species, conservation strategies need also to differ in their cases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting genetic structure in cuckoo and predatory Maculinea butterflies

et al. 2015

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“…Thus, the host specificity pattern observed in M. rebeli and M. alcon is extremely complex, as a consequence of local adaptations. For instance, studies on M. rebeli from the Pyrenees show that its populations restrictively exploit colonies of M. schencki Emery, 1894 while eastern M. rebeli populations (mainly in Poland) use both M. sabuleti Meinert, 1861 and M. scabrinodis Nylander, 1846 (Thomas et al 2005b(Thomas et al , 2013. Thomas et al (2013) have more recently suggested that this host shift could be a trace of a major difference in chemical profiles, enabling each social parasite to infiltrate and exploit even very different Myrmica host societies.…”

Section: Host Ants' Diversification In Maculinea Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Evolutionarily Significant Unit” concept and its applicability in biological conservation

Casacci

Barbero

Balletto

2013

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Although most conservationists claim to protect "species", the conservation unit actually and practically managed is the individual population. As resources are not unlimited, we need to focus on a restricted number of populations. But how can we select them? The Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU), first conceptualised by Ryder in 1986, may offer some answer. Several definitions have been proposed for the ESU, but all make reference to units "whose divergence can be measured or evaluated by putting differential emphasis on the role of evolutionary forces at varied temporal scales". Thus, an ESU might be fully identical with a "species", or a "species" could be composed of multiple ESUs. On the other hand, an ESU might comprise single/multiple populations exchanging a degree of gene flow, such as meta-populations. In an attempt to show strengths and weaknesses of ESU concepts, we present here, among several others, some case studies on the myrmecophilous butterflies of the genus Maculinea. In particular, we analyse the apparently everlasting debate about Maculinea alcon and M. rebeli, whose separation into separate species has been accepted by many authors, on mainly ecological criteria, but has not been fully supported by molecular analyses. We also discuss how the tight association with host ants may have driven selection for increasingly more strictly adapted Maculinea populations, arguably deserving specific taxonomic identity. Finally we discuss how current DNA analyses may fail to detect critical information on differences between taxa recently originated by the action of separate adaptive processes, which non-molecular studies can sometimes reveal. We conclude by discussing some current and often conflicting taxonomic trends, in their relationships with conservation policies.

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“…In contrast, recent studies have shown a high degree of physiological specialisation of Maculinea species to their hosts, making it locally impossible to infiltrate and exploit non-host colonies (Thomas et al 1989;Akino et al 1999;Schönrogge et al 2004;Thomas et al 2005). This specialisation, in principle, should make each butterfly species incompatible with Myrmica species considerably differing in physiology and social behaviour from their own host species (Thomas et al 2012), thus also being expressed in higher niche overlap scores. However, physiological specialisation is not addressed by our niche overlap measures only taking the Grinnellian niche space into account (Peterson et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Niche overlap and host specificity in parasitic Maculinea butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) as a measure for potential extinction risks under climate change

Filz

Schmitt

2015

Org Divers Evol

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Species depending on specific biotic interactions are particularly threatened by environmental changes. Therefore, host dependency in species living in parasitic relationships is acknowledged as a crucial factor increasing climatic susceptibility and species decline. In Maculinea butterflies and Myrmica ants, a complex form of social parasitism brings the butterflies into dependency of some few associated ant species for reproductive success. We evaluated to what extent these relations can be attributed to similarity in their climatic niches and whether alterations in niche overlap might foster the climatic susceptibility in Maculinea butterflies under future climate change. We show that the niches of ants and butterflies differ significantly more than expected at random corresponding to the observed flexibility in host exploitation. Moreover, a generally low degree of niche overlap and similar niche overlap scores between main and secondary host associations argue for a low host specificity of Maculinea butterflies. Pronounced range shifts and habitat retractions in all species will result in severe spatial limitations of Maculinea species by the presence of their hosts. No tightening in any of the host-parasite associations was detected under the pressure of range restrictions. Niche overlap scores remain comparably low in future scenarios and call for the possibility of extensive host shifts between all related species. Therefore, the absence of niche constraints might enable the parasites to extensively shift among hosts to allow the co-occurrence of several Maculinea species, in principle using the same host, and to maintain viable populations under the pressure of limited distributions and changing environments.

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Mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants

Cited by 37 publications

References 41 publications

Contrasting genetic structure in cuckoo and predatory Maculinea butterflies

Contrasting genetic structure in cuckoo and predatory Maculinea butterflies

The “Evolutionarily Significant Unit” concept and its applicability in biological conservation

Niche overlap and host specificity in parasitic Maculinea butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) as a measure for potential extinction risks under climate change

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