Nematodes
Ants can serve as developmental, definitive, intermediate, or carrier hosts of a variety of nematodes. Parasitic ant nematodes include members of the families Mermithidae, Tetradonematidae, Allantonematidae, Seuratidae, Physalopteridae, Steinernematidae, and Heterorhabditidae. Those nematodes that are phoretically associated with ants, internally or externally, are represented by the Rhabditidae, Diplogastridae, and Panagrolaimidae. Fossils of mermithids, tetradonematids, allantonematids, and diplogastrids associated with ants show the evolutionary history of these relationships, some of which date back to the Eocene (40 mya). (Poinar, 2012)
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Pheidole symbiotica
These nemotodes are known from a variety of ants. Borowiec and Salata (2015) found that the workers of the previously described species Pheidole symbiotica were simply workers of Pheidole pallidula that were infested with mermithid nematodes.
Sommimyrma symbiotica
Csosz (2012) - Bolton (1988) reported that the holotype of Sommimyrma symbiotica might have been a developmentally abnormal specimen, avoiding any further speculations. According to the images (Figs. 1a, b) probably two or three nematode worms (confirmed by nematologists, Gábor Majoros and George Poinar) nearly completely fill in the gaster of the type individual. The worms are not completely developed; these parasites apparently did not attain the preadult stage. In general characteristics of external morphology the symbiotica holotype specimen is reminiscent of the workers or mermithogenic phenotypes of Myrmica scabrinodis, hence I conducted a PCA based morphometric comparison of the type with both infested and uninfected classes of M. scabrinodis. Results demonstrate that M. symbiotica holotype is nested in the cluster of infested M. scabrinodis individuals (Fig. 2). Based on these results I propose new junior synonymy with M. scabrinodis.
Known Ant Hosts
Ant | Nematode | Locality | Source | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Azteca alpha | Formicodiplogaster myrmenema | Dominican amber | Poinar, 2011 | Dominican amber |
Camponotus aethiops | Camponotimermis bifidus | Ipateva et al., 1990 | ||
Camponotus aethiops | Comanimermis clujensis | Coman, 1953 | ||
Camponotus castaneus | Rabbium paradoxus | Florida | Poinar et al., 1989 | |
Camponotus herculeanus | Oscheius dolichurus | Ontario | Nickle & Ayre, 1966 | |
Camponotus vicinus | Formicitylenchus oregonensis | Oregon, USA | Poinar, 2003 | |
Cephalotes atratus | Myrmeconema neotropicum | Peru, Panama | Poinar, 2007 | |
Cephalotes minutus | Agamomermis cephaloti | Poinar et al., 2006 | ||
Cephalotes serratus | Palaeoallantonema cephalotae | Dominican amber | Poinar, 2011 | Dominican amber |
Eciton burchellii | Agamomermis ecitoni | Poinar et al., 2006 | ||
Ectatomma ruidum | Meximermis ectatommi | Poinar et al., 2006 | ||
Ectatomma tuberculatum | unidentified nematode | French Guiana | ||
Formica | Diploscapter lycostoma | Wahab, 1962 | ||
Formica fusca | Comanimermis clujensis | Coman, 1953 | ||
Formica rufa | Oscheius dolichurus | Janet, 1893; Wahab, 1962 | ||
Formica rufa | Pristionchus lheritieri | Wahab, 1962 | ||
Lasius | Diploscapter lycostoma | Wahab, 1962 | ||
Lasius | Koerneria histophora | Wahab, 1962 | ||
Lasius | Pheromermis myrmecophila | Crawley & Baylis, 1921 | ||
Lasius | Pristionchus lheritieri | Wahab, 1962 | ||
Lasius brunneus | Diplogasteroides spengelii | Kohler, 2012 | ||
Lasius brunneus | Diploscapter sp. | Kohler, 2012 | ||
Lasius brunneus | Halicephalobus similigaster | Kohler, 2012 | ||
Lasius brunneus | Koerneria histophora | Kohler, 2012 | ||
Lasius brunneus | Oscheius dolichurus | Kohler, 2012 | ||
Lasius claviger | Oscheius dolichurus | Nickle & Ayre, 1966 | ||
Lasius flavus | Oscheius dolichurus | Janet, 1893; Wahab, 1962 | ||
Lasius flavus | Pheromermis villosa | Kaiser, 1986 | ||
Lasius niger | Pheromermis lasiusi | Rubstov, 1970 | ||
Lasius niger | Pheromermis villosa | Kaiser, 1986 | ||
Linepithema | Heydenius myrmecophila | Dominican amber | Poinar et al., 2006 | Dominican amber fossil |
Linepithema humile | Diploscapter lycostoma | Markin & McCoy, 1968 | ||
Myrmica rugulosa | Diploscapter lycostoma | Wahab, 1962 | ||
Myrmica scabrinodis | unidentified nematode | Csosz, 2012 | infected ant described as ''Sommimyrma symbiotica'', now ''Myrmica scabrinodis'' | |
Odontomachus hastatus | Agamomermis costaricensis | Poinar et al., 2006 | ||
Pogonomyrmex barbatus | Skrjabinoptera phrynosoma | Lee, 1957 | ||
Prenolepis henschei | Heydenius formicinus | Baltic amber | Poinar, 2002 | Baltic amber fossil |
Prolasius advena | Diploscapter formicidae | New Zealand | Zhao et al., 2013 | |
Solenopsis invicta | Allomermis solenopsi | Argentina | Poinar et al., 2007 | |
Solenopsis invicta | Steinernema carpocapsae | Poinar, 2012 | ||
Solenopsis invicta | Tetradonema solenopsis | Brazil | Nickle & Jouvenaz, 1987 | |
Solenopsis richteri | Tetradonema solenopsis | Jouvenaz & Wojcik, 1990 | ||
Tetramorium caespitum | Oscheius dolichurus | Wahab, 1962 |
References
- Borowiec, L. & Salata, S. 2015. Pheidole symbiotica Wasmann, 1909, an enigmatic supposed social parasite, is a nematode infested form of Pheidole pallidula (Nylander, 1849) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Sociobiology, 62, 181-186 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v62i2.181-186).
- Csősz, S. 2012. Nematode infection as significant source of unjustified taxonomic descriptions in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News, 17, 27-31.
- Poinar, G., Jr. 2012. Nematode parasites and associates of ants: Past and present. Psyche, 2012, Article ID 192017, 13 pages (DOI 10.1155/2012/192017).
- Steiner, F.M., Kohler, G., Seifert, B., Arthofer, W., Schlick-Steiner, B.C., Buschinger, A. 2019. A worker-like female of Myrmica sabuleti Meinert, 1861 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in a pitfall trap with five mermithids (Nematoda: Mermithidae) protruding from the gaster. Sociobiology 66(3): 400-407 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v66i3.4338).
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