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Myrmecophilous
thumb , Myrmecophilous aphids being tended by ants Myrmecophily ( , ) consists of positive, mutualistic, interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. It may also include commensal or even parasitic interactions. A "myrmecophile" is an animal that associates with ants. An estimated 10,000 species of ants (Formicidae) are known, with a higher diversity in the tropics. In most terrestrial ecosystems, ants are ecologically and numerically dominant, being the main invertebrate predators. As a result, ants play a key role in controlling arthropod richness, abundance, and community structure. Some evidence shows that the evolution of myrmecophilous interactions has contributed to the abundance and ecological success of ants, by ensuring a dependable and energy-rich food supply, thus providing a competitive advantage for ants over other invertebrate predators. Most myrmecophilous associations are opportunistic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecophily In Staphylinidae
Many species of Staphylinidae (commonly known as "rove beetles") have developed complex interspecies relationships with ants, known as myrmecophily. Rove beetles are among the most rich and diverse families of myrmecophilous beetles, with a wide variety of relationships with ants. Ant associations range from near free-living species which prey only on ants, to obligate inquilines of ants, which exhibit extreme morphological and chemical adaptations to the harsh environments of ant nests. Some species are fully integrated into the host colony, and are cleaned and fed by ants. Many of these, including species in tribe Clavigerini, are myrmecophagous, placating their hosts with glandular secretions while eating the brood. Taxonomy Staphylinidae is currently considered to be the largest family of beetles, with over 58,000 species described. As such, many myrmecophilous species are unknown. The majority of studied myrmecophilous rove beetles belong to the subfamily Aleocharinae, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diptera
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics. Diptera is a large order containing more than 150,000 species including horse-flies, crane flies, hoverflies, mosquitoes and others. Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large compound eyes, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. Their wing arrangement gives them great manoeuvrability in flight, and claws and pads on their feet enable them to cling to smooth surfaces. Flies undergo complete metamorphosis; the eggs are often laid on the larval food-source and the larvae, which lack true ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species. The family comprises seven subfamilies, including the blues (Polyommatinae), the coppers (Lycaeninae), the hairstreaks (Theclinae), and the harvesters (Miletinae). Description, food, and life cycle Adults are small, under 5 cm usually, and brightly coloured, sometimes with a metallic gloss. Lycaenidae wings are generally blue or green. More than half of these butterflies depend on ants in some way. Larvae are often flattened rather than cylindrical, with glands that may produce secretions that attract and subdue ants. Their cuticles tend to be thickened. Some larvae are capable of producing vibrations and low sounds that are transmitted through the substrates they inhabit. They use these sounds to commun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ant Mimicry
Ant mimicry or myrmecomorphy is mimicry of ants by other organisms; it has evolved over 70 times. Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators that rely on vision to identify their prey, such as birds and wasps, normally avoid them, because they are either unpalatable or aggressive. Some arthropods mimic ants to escape predation ( Batesian mimicry), while some predators of ants, especially spiders, mimic them anatomically and behaviourally in aggressive mimicry. Ant mimicry has existed almost as long as ants themselves; the earliest ant mimics in the fossil record appear in the mid-Cretaceous alongside the earliest ants. In myrmecophily, mimic and model live commensally together; in the case of ants, the mimic is an inquiline in the ants' nest. Such mimics may in addition be Batesian or aggressive mimics. To overcome ants' powerful defences, mimics may imitate ants chemically with ant-like pheromones, visually, or by imitating an ant's surface microstructure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pselaphidae
Pselaphinae are a subfamily of beetles in the family Rove beetle, Staphylinidae, the rove beetles. The group was originally regarded as a separate family named Pselaphidae. Newton and Thayer (1995) placed them in the Omaliinae, Omaliine group of the family Staphylinidae based on shared morphological characters. This is a species-rich subfamily with 9,000 to 10,000 described species. They are especially diverse in the tropics. They are commonly found in decaying leaf litter on forest floors, in grass tussocks, flood refuse, moss, and other highly structured and particulate microhabitats. Little is known about their biology. They are believed to be predatory on small invertebrates, in particular springtails (order Collembola) and Oribatida, oribatid mites (order Oribatida). Pselaphines have attracted the interest of entomology, entomologists due to their exquisite and variable Morphology (biology), morphology, which is rewarding to observe with a microscope. In addition, the myrmec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator. Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than one-fifth of Earth's terrestrial area and contain about 50% of the world's species. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity for both marine and terrestrial taxa. Since Abiogenesis, life began on Earth, six major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic aeon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosion. In this period, the majority of Multicellular organism, multicellular Phylum, phyla first appeared. The next 400 mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ptiliidae
Ptiliidae is a family of very tiny beetles (including the smallest of all beetles) with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are colloquially called featherwing beetles, because the hindwings are narrow and feathery. There are approximately 600 described species in 80 genera, but large numbers of specimens in collections await description and the true number of species is likely to be much higher than this. The family is divided into 3 subfamilies: * Acrotrichinae * Cephaloplectinae * Ptiliinae Description This family contains the smallest of all beetles, with a length when fully grown of . The weight is approximately 0.4 milligrams. Ptillid wings are feathery due to the much higher effective viscosity of air at small body sizes, which makes normal insect wings much less efficient. Unlike other small insects with feathery wings, such as parasitic wasps like fairyflies, ptillids do not fly using a clap and fling motion, but instead fly using a figure of eight pattern wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecophilus Acervorum
''Myrmecophilus acervorum'' is an orthopteran insect belonging to the family Myrmecophilidae (the ant-loving crickets). This continental European species is probably the most widespread and most frequently encountered member of this rather obscure family found in Europe. It is also by far the smallest orthopteran found in Western Europe, with its total adult length never exceeding . As with other members of the family, this insect lives its whole lifecycle as an inquiline within ants' nests. ''M. acervorum'' lives with ants (myrmecophily) of more than 20 species. This specialized way of life has led this insect to evolve many morphological differences compared to other orthopterans, including complete absence of wings (as they never leave their host nest) and hearing organs (as they no longer use stridulation), and much reduced eyesight, as well as their very small size. These tiny insects are dark brown with paler bands and prominent cerci, which serve as their primary senso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cricket (insect)
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to Tettigoniidae, bush crickets and more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Augustus Daniel Imms, Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 886 pp. "crickets" were placed at the family level (''i.e.'' Gryllidae), but contemporary authorities including Dan Otte, Otte now place them in the superfamily Grylloidea. The word has been used in combination to describe more distantly related taxa in the suborder Ensifera, such as Stenopelmatoidea, king crickets and mole crickets. Crickets have mainly cylindrically shaped bodies, round heads, and long antenna (biology), antennae. Behind the head is a smooth, robust pronotum. The abdomen ends in a pair of long Cercus, cerci; females have a long, cylindrical ovipositor. Diagnostic features include legs with 3-segmented Arthropod leg#Tarsus, tarsi; as with many Orthoptera, the hind legs have enlarged femora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthoptera
Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshoppers, locusts, and close relatives; and Ensifera – crickets and close relatives. More than 20,000 species are distributed worldwide. The insects in the order have incomplete metamorphosis, and produce sound (known as a " stridulation") by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps. The tympanum, or ear, is located in the front tibia in crickets, mole crickets, and bush crickets or katydids, and on the first abdominal segment in the grasshoppers and locusts. These organisms use vibrations to locate other individuals. Grasshoppers and other orthopterans are able to fold their wings (i.e. they are members of Neoptera). Etymology The name is derived from the Gree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Mimicry
Chemical mimicry (or molecular mimicry) is a type of biological mimicry involving the use of chemicals to dupe an operator. A chemical mimic dupes an operator (e.g. a predator) by showing an adaptive chemical resemblance to an object of its environment and as a consequence receives selective advantage. In all cases of chemical mimicry it has been found that the mimicking species is the only species to benefit from the reaction with either costs or no effect on the duped species. This is by adapting to produce chemicals (ex: allomones, pheromones, Odor, odours, etc.) that will cause a desirable behavioural reaction in the species being deceived and a selective advantage to the mimic, as in ant mimicry. Chemical mimicry exists within many of the different forms of mimicry such as Aggressive mimicry, aggressive, protective, Batesian mimicry , Batesian, and Müllerian mimicry and can involve a number of different senses. Mimicking semiochemicals make up some of the most widely use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Association (ecology)
In phytosociology and community ecology an association is a type of community (ecology), ecological community with a predictable species composition and consistent physiognomy (structural appearance) which occurs in a particular habitat type. The term was first coined by Alexander von Humboldt and formalised by the International Botanical Congress in 1910. An association can be viewed as a real, integrated entity shaped either by species interactions or by similar habitat requirements, or it can be viewed as merely a common point along a continuum. The former view was championed by American ecologist Frederic Clements, who viewed the association as a whole that was more than the sum of its parts, and by Josias Braun-Blanquet, a Swiss-born phytosociologist. On the other end of the argument was American ecologist Henry Gleason, who saw these groupings of plant species as a coincidence produced by the "fluctuation and fortuitous immigration of plants, and an equally fluctuating and va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
