Recognition, speciation, and conservation: recent progress in brood parasitism research among social insects

Manna, Thomas J.; Hauber, Márk E.

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.07.005

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…The potential of social parasites as tools in this respect is likely to reach far beyond these two aspects [80], but we hope that these topics provide exemplars to initiate more interest in using social parasites as models within this conceptual framework to better understand the mechanisms and evolution of the more elusive secrets of social living, such as immune defence and conflict resolution. Equally, although we focus on inquilines, there is huge potential to exploit other guises of social parasites of insects (from slave-makers to temporary facultative social parasites), as well as social parasites from across the animal kingdom (such as cuckoos in cooperative breeding birds) [11,18,81], as tools to unlock the secrets of living in societies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality

Cini

Sumner

Cervo

2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Insect societies play a crucial role in the functioning of most ecosystems and have fascinated both scientists and the lay public for centuries. Despite the long history of study, we are still far from understanding how insect societies have evolved and how social cohesion in their colonies is maintained. Here we suggest inquiline social parasites of insect societies as an under-exploited experimental tool for understanding sociality. We draw on examples from obligate inquiline (permanent) social parasites in wasps, ants and bees to illustrate how these parasites may allow us to better understand societies and learn more about the evolution and functioning of insect societies. We highlight three main features of these social parasite–host systems—namely, close phylogenetic relationships, strong selective pressures arising from coevolution and multiple independent origins—that make inquiline social parasites particularly suited for this aim; we propose a conceptual comparative framework that considers trait losses, gains and modifications in social parasite–host systems. We give examples of how this framework can reveal the more elusive secrets of sociality by focusing on two cornerstones of sociality: communication and reproductive division of labour. Together with social parasites in other taxonomic groups, such as cuckoos in birds, social parasitism has a great potential to reveal the mechanisms and evolution of complex social groups. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern’.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality

Cini

Sumner

Cervo

2019

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…Alternatively, species recognition may rely on early social experiences with conspecifics, including early song learning from 'tutors' in juvenile male and female songbirds, as opposed to relying on innate preferences (Irwin and Price, 1999). Examining mechanisms of conspecific recognition is crucially relevant in obligate brood parasites, which are species in which offspring are exclusively raised by heterospecifics, and include lineages in fishes, insects and birds (Göth and Hauber, 2004;Manna and Hauber, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A neural basis for password-based species recognition in an avian brood parasite

Lynch

Tyler

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Obligate avian brood parasites are raised by heterospecific hosts and, therefore, lack crucial early exposure to relatives and other conspecifics. Yet, young brood parasites readily recognize and affiliate with others of their own species upon independence. One solution to this social recognition paradox is the ontogenetic 'password' mechanism used by obligate parasitic brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), whereby conspecific identification is initially mediated through the cowbird chatter: a non-learned vocal cue. We explored the neural basis of such password-based species recognition in juvenile and adult male cowbirds. We found that cowbird auditory forebrain regions express greater densities of the protein product of the immediate-early gene ZENK in response to the password chatter call relative to control sounds of mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) coos. The chatter-selective induction of ZENK expression occurs in both the caudal medial nidopallium (NCM) and the caudal medial mesopallium (CMM) in adults, but only within the NCM in juveniles. In contrast, we discovered that juvenile cowbirds exhibit neural selectivity to presentations of either conspecific or heterospecific songs, but only in CMM and only after recent experience. Juvenile cowbirds that did not have previous experience with the song type they were exposed to during the test period exhibited significantly lower activity-dependent gene expression. Thus, in juvenile male cowbirds, there is early onset of species-specific selective neural representation of non-learned calls in NCM and recently experienced song in CMM. These results suggest that NCM is evolutionarily co-opted in parasitic cowbirds to selectively recognize the password chatter, allowing juvenile cowbirds to identify adult conspecifics and avoid mis-imprinting upon unrelated host species. These ontogenetic comparisons reveal novel insights into the neural basis of species recognition in brood parasitic species.

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“…Brood parasites directly affect the fitness of the host, typically by killing or competing with the host's offspring, thus directing resources away from reproductive success of the host [1][2][3][4][5]. In response, hosts evolve mechanisms to avoid or ameliorate effects of brood parasites, and parasites evolve mechanisms to avoid detection [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Interspecific Brood Parasite Detection and Removal in Burying Beetles

Smith

Belk

2018

Psyche: A Journal of Entomology

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We tested whether brood parasitism could be successful between two co-occurring species of burying beetles, Nicrophorus guttula and Nicrophorus marginatus, and whether these species exhibit an adaptive response to brood parasitism by detecting and removing parasites. We cross-fostered larvae between broods of the two species and created mixed-species broods to simulate the addition of brood parasites. Brood parasites survived in both species’ broods. Nicrophorus marginatus culled 86% of brood parasites compared to 56% of their own larvae, and N. guttula culled 50% of brood parasites compared to 22% of their own larvae. Additionally, N. guttula brood parasites were significantly smaller than N. guttula that were raised by N. guttula parents, but N. marginatus brood parasites were significantly larger than N. marginatus that were raised by N. marginatus parents. This paper provides the first evidence that burying beetles can discriminate between their own larvae and other species’ larvae. We suggest that brood parasitism may be the selective force responsible for this ability.

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Recognition, speciation, and conservation: recent progress in brood parasitism research among social insects

Cited by 4 publications

References 48 publications

Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality

Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality

A neural basis for password-based species recognition in an avian brood parasite

Evidence for Interspecific Brood Parasite Detection and Removal in Burying Beetles

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