Natural history and ecology of fungus-farming ants: a field study in Atlantic rainforest

Ronque, Mariane Ueda Vaz; Feitosa, Rodrigo M.; Oliveira, Paulo S.

doi:10.1007/s00040-019-00695-y

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Moreover, bacterial communities in attines could be shaped by ant behaviors, such as grooming and licking, which remove the unwanted bacteria from the cuticle of the ants and from the fungus garden 18,43 . We also suggest that the items collected for fungiculture may influence the bacteria associated with these ants, since different species use variable proportions of vegetable matter and arthropod feces to cultivate the symbiotic fungi 19 . Kellner et al 12 suggested that some groups of bacteria associated with Mycocepurus smithii are influenced by the insect feces collected by the ants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Overall, we found differences in the phylogenetic diversity of bacteria among species, with Sericomyrmex saussurei hosting the highest bacterial diversity. Since S. saussurei traveled the greatest foraging distances (up to 3.60 m) among the five studied species 19 , foragers in this species may be exposed to an increased bacterial diversity from the external environment. www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Fungus-farming ants species host different bacterial communities, indicating that species identity is an important factor shaping the associated microbiota.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our objectives were: (i) to characterize the bacterial community composition from five attine species; (ii) to compare the microbiome of the five attine species and investigate possible interspecific differences in bacterial community composition; (iii) to investigate if the microbiota associated with ants whose activity is internal to the nest environment differs from that associated with ants foraging outside the nest; and (iv) to compare the microbiome between different colonies of the same species and investigate possible intraspecific differences in the composition of associated bacterial communities. Although the five ant species investigated cultivate mutualistic fungi, they differ in the size of their colonies, in the material collected for fungiculture, and in the foraging modes 19 . Thus, we predicted that bacterial communities would differ among the five species of fungus-farming ants.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Symbiotic bacterial communities in rainforest fungus-farming ants: evidence for species and colony specificity

Ronque

Lyra

Migliorini³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Animals may host diverse bacterial communities that can markedly affect their behavioral physiology, ecology, and vulnerability to disease. Fungus-farming ants represent a classical example of mutualism that depends on symbiotic microorganisms. Unraveling the bacterial communities associated with fungus-farming ants is essential to understand the role of these microorganisms in the ant-fungus symbiosis. The bacterial community structure of five species of fungus-farmers (non-leaf-cutters; genera Mycocepurus, Mycetarotes, Mycetophylax, and Sericomyrmex) from three different environments in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest (lowland forest, restinga forest, and sand dunes) was characterized with amplicon-based Illumina sequencing of 16 S ribosomal RNA gene. Possible differences in bacterial communities between ants internal to the nest (on the fungus garden) and external foragers were also investigated. Our results on the richness and diversity of associated bacteria provide novel evidence that these communities are host- and colony-specific in fungus-farming ants. Indeed, the bacterial communities associated with external foragers differ among the five species, and among colonies of the same species. Furthermore, bacterial communities from internal ants vs. foragers do not differ or differ only slightly within each ant species. This study highlights the importance of describing ant-associated bacterial communities to better understand this host-bacterial interaction in the social environment of insect colonies and provides the foundation for future studies on the ecological and evolutionary processes that drive the success of fungus-farming ants.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Symbiotic bacterial communities in rainforest fungus-farming ants: evidence for species and colony specificity

Ronque

Lyra

Migliorini³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…and Myrmecopterula spp. in the families, Agaricaceae and Pterulaceae , respectively (de Fine Licht & Boomsma, 2010; Leal‐Dutra et al, 2020; Ronque et al, 2019; Schultz & Brady, 2008).…”

Section: A Summary On the Attine Ant–fungus Mutualismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yeasts in the attine ant–fungus mutualism: Diversity, functional roles, and putative biotechnological applications

Bizarria

Pagnocca

Rodrigues

2021

Yeast

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Insects interact with a wide variety of yeasts, often providing a suitable substrate for their growth. Some yeast-insect interactions are tractable models for understanding the relationships between the symbionts. Attine ants are prominent insects in the Neotropics and have performed an ancient fungiculture of mutualistic basidiomycete fungi for more than 55-65 million years. Yeasts gain access to this sophisticated mutualism, prompting diversity, ecological, and biotechnological studies in this environment. We review half a century research in this field, surveying for recurrent yeast taxa and their putative ecological roles in this environment. We found that previous studies mainly covered the yeast diversity from a small fraction of attine ants, being Saccharomycetales, Tremellales, and Trichosporonales as the most frequent yeast or yeast-like orders found.

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“…Similar to leaf-cutting ants, some higher attines have also been observed cutting fresh plant material for their gardens (Weber, 1972;Schultz & Meier, 1995;Leal & Oliveira, 2000;Mayhé-Nunes & Brandão, 2005;. Otherwise, much like lower attines, higher attines typically harvest fallen flowers, fruits, leaves, small twigs, seeds, and caterpillar frass (Lizidatti, 2006;De Fine Licht & Boomsma, 2010;Ronque, Feitosa & Oliveira, 2019). Unlike lower-attine workers that are typically monomorphic, workers in Mycetomoellerius, Paratrachymyrmex, and Trachymyrmex tend to be weakly polymorphic (Weber, 1958a;Beshers & Traniello, 1996;Rabeling et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Using an integrative taxonomic approach to delimit a sibling species,Mycetomoellerius mikromelanossp. nov. (Formicidae: Attini: Attina)

Cardenas

Luo

Jones

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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The fungus-growing ant Mycetomoellerius (previously Trachymyrmex) zeteki (Weber 1940) has been the focus of a wide range of studies examining symbiotic partners, garden pathogens, mating frequencies, and genomics. This is in part due to the ease of collecting colonies from creek embankments and its high abundance in the Panama Canal region. The original description was based on samples collected on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. However, most subsequent studies have sampled populations on the mainland 15 km southeast of BCI. Herein we show that two sibling ant species live in sympatry on the mainland: Mycetomoellerius mikromelanos Cardenas, Schultz, & Adams and M. zeteki. This distinction was originally based on behavioral differences of workers in the field and on queen morphology (M. mikromelanos workers and queens are smaller and black while those of M. zeteki are larger and red). Authors frequently refer to either species as “M. cf. zeteki,” indicating uncertainty about identity. We used an integrative taxonomic approach to resolve this, examining worker behavior, chemical profiles of worker volatiles, molecular markers, and morphology of all castes. For the latter, we used conventional taxonomic indicators from nine measurements, six extrapolated indices, and morphological characters. We document a new observation of a Diapriinae (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) parasitoid wasp parasitizing M. zeteki. Finally, we discuss the importance of vouchering in dependable, accessible museum collections and provide a table of previously published papers to clarify the usage of the name T. zeteki. We found that most reports of M. zeteki or M. cf. zeteki—including a genome—actually refer to the new species M. mikromelanos.

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Natural history and ecology of fungus-farming ants: a field study in Atlantic rainforest

Cited by 9 publications

References 61 publications

Symbiotic bacterial communities in rainforest fungus-farming ants: evidence for species and colony specificity

Symbiotic bacterial communities in rainforest fungus-farming ants: evidence for species and colony specificity

Yeasts in the attine ant–fungus mutualism: Diversity, functional roles, and putative biotechnological applications

Using an integrative taxonomic approach to delimit a sibling species,Mycetomoellerius mikromelanossp. nov. (Formicidae: Attini: Attina)

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