大果榕亚组三种榕树传粉榕小蜂核型研究

研究了木瓜榕(Ficus auriculata Loureiro)、苹果榕(F.oligodon Miquel)及未知榕(Ficus sp.)3种榕树传粉榕小蜂的核型。结果表明:3种榕树对应的传粉榕小蜂具有非常相似的核型,染色体数目相同为2n=10,染色体全部为中着丝粒染色体;核型公式2n=2X=10=10M,核型均为Stebbins-1A型。以臂比不对称性系数Dc和相对长度不对称性系数Dt作二维散点图,Ceratosolen emarginatus Mayr(木瓜榕传粉榕小蜂)和C.emarginatus Mayr(苹果榕传粉榕小蜂)具有非常相近的核型不对称系数,核型不对称性大于Ceratosolen sp.(未知榕传粉榕小蜂),显示出两者更近的亲缘关系,而Ceratosolen sp.(未知榕)与前两者亲缘关系较远。此外,比较了Ceratosolen属和Blastophaga属在核型方面的差异,认为染色体数目包括染色体形态能够作为准确区分Ceratosolen属和Blastophaga属的依据,并对Ceratosolen属的核型进化进行了初步探讨。     

Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for two dioecious Ficus species

Microsatellite markers for Ficus montana and Ficus septica were developed using genomic libraries enriched for di‐, tri‐ and tetranucleotide repeats. The subsets of five and three best scorable primer pairs were characterized on 24 F. montana and 36 F. septica individuals, respectively. For F. montana, loci showed five to 14 alleles per locus and expected heterozygosities ranged between 0.23 and 0.87. For F. septica, loci showed three to five alleles per locus and expected heterozygosities ranged between 0.36 and 0.49. Four primer pairs (two from each subset) cross‐amplified in the other species, indicating transportability of the markers within the genus Ficus.     

A specialised pollination system using nectar‐seeking thynnine wasps in Caladenia nobilis (Orchidaceae)

• Caladenia is a diverse Australian genus that is exceptional among orchids in having both species pollinated by food‐seeking and sexually deceived insects. Here, we investigated the pollination of Caladenia nobilis, a species predicted to be food‐deceptive due to its large, cream‐coloured and apparently nectarless flowers.
• Pollinator observations were made using experimental clumps of flowers. Measurements of floral colour were undertaken with a spectrometer, nectar was tested using GC‐MS, and reproductive success was quantified for 2 years.
• While C. nobilis attracted nine species of insect, only males of the thynnine wasp Rhagigaster discrepans exhibited the correct size and behaviour to remove and deposit pollen. Male R. discrepans attempted to feed from the surface of the labellum, often crawling to multiple flowers, but showed no evidence of sexual attraction. Most flowers produced little or no nectar, although some may provide enough sucrose to act as a meagre reward to pollinators. Floral colouration was similar to a related Caladenia species pollinated by sexual deception, although the sexually deceptive species had a dull‐red labellum. Reproductive success was generally low and highly variable between sites and years.
• In addition to most visitors being of inappropriate size for pollinia removal, the lack of response to the orchid by several co‐occurring species of thynnine wasp suggests filtering of potential pollinators at the attraction phase. Our discovery of a pollination strategy that may be intermediate between food deception and food reward raises the question, how many putatively rewardless orchids actually produce meagre amounts of nectar?

     

Biological control by two exotic parasitoids: eight-year population dynamics and life tables of the arrowhead scale

To determine the process of regulation of Unaspis yanonensis (Kuwana) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) by the two introduced parasitoids, Aphytis yanonensis DeBach et Rosen and Coccobius fulvus (Compere et Annecke) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), the temporal changes in the population density of U. yanonensis as well as the parasitism rates were monitored for eight years before and after the release of the two parasitoids in a Satsuma mandarin orange (Citrus unshiu Marc. (Rutaceae)) orchard. From 2–4 years after the release, the parasitism rate by C. fulvus gradually increased, eventually reaching 70%, while that by A. yanonensis showed a weak increase, remaining under 12%. During this period, the host density decreased to about 1/100 of the initial density. After the drastic decrease, the host density remained under 1/60 of the level previous to the release for at least 2 years with the populations of both parasitoids persisting. To estimate the ability of the two parasitoids to regulate the populations of U. yanonensis, life tables of U. yanonensis under natural conditions and predator/parasitoid-exclusion (bagged) conditions were compared. It was demonstrated that C. fulvus and A. yanonensis impose about 70% mortality rate on the host at mature adult stages and about 30% on the host at immature adult stages. The results have strongly confirmed the high capability of the two parasitoids as biological control agents for U. yanonensis, which was suggested by earlier studies. However, contrary to those studies, the present study did not support the complementarity of the two parasitoids in regulating the host population, suggesting that the effectiveness of C. fulvus alone in regulating the host population at low levels.     

Not only cuticular lipids: first evidence of differences between foundresses and their daughters in polar substances in the paper wasp Polistes dominulus

Several studies have shown that differences in the relative abundance of cuticular hydrocarbons occur between reproductives and non-reproductives in many social insects. These differences also exist between Polistes dominulus foundresses and their first emerged daughters (usually indicated as workers), but they gradually disappear when workers from orphaned colonies develop their ovaries and assume a reproductive role in the colony. However, hydrocarbons are not the exclusive components of cuticular layer of wasps. Mass-spectrometry analysis of cuticular methanol extracts from Polistes paper wasps showed a complex pattern of polar substances, partly or totally proteinaceous in nature. We found that these compounds, ranging from 918 to 2679 Da, showed a clear caste differentiation between foundresses and their first emerged daughters (usually indicated as "workers"), both in queen-right and in orphaned colonies. Conversely to hydrocarbons, workers from orphaned colonies maintain a significant difference from foundresses in the pattern of the medium molecular weight (MW) polar compounds obtained by MALDI-TOF. On the basis of such results we hypothesize that a reliable cue to identify foundresses from daughters, and not only their reproductive status, may exist in Polistes wasps. Although the great majority of previous work on social insect communication has focused on cuticular hydrocarbons, our findings suggest that the medium MW component of cuticular substances may be involved in recognition.     

Different male morphs of Otitesella pseudoserrata fig wasps have equal fitness but are not determined by different alleles

The extreme male dimorphisms exhibited by some non‐pollinating fig wasps have often been thought to be a consequence of a genetic polymorphism, and have been cited as an example of how frequency‐dependent selection can maintain alternative alleles in a population. If true, then the proportions of each morph in one generation should reflect their mating success in previous generations. Here, we test the genetic polymorphism assumption in the male dimorphic species Otitesella pseudoserrata, and demonstrate that it is impossible for such a mechanism to generate alternative morphs in the highly variable proportions observed. These results suggest that male dimorphism is not a classic case of alternative strategies attributable to alternative alleles at a single locus. Rather, it would seem that although the fitnesses of the alternative morphologies are frequency dependent, their actual proportions in a generation are determined through a facultative decision.     

母代雌蜂数、进果时间及非传粉小蜂对传粉榕小蜂后代数量及性比的影响

【目的】对性比的研究有助于我们理解自然界生物的选择压力及其所产生的原因和结果,榕树和榕小蜂之间的互惠共生关系以及生物学和生态学特性使其成为研究性比和局域配偶竞争模型（local mate competition）的理想材料。本研究旨在探明榕小蜂性比调节和进化机制。【方法】对分布于西双版纳地区的鸡嗉子榕Ficus semicordata进行了人工控制性放蜂实验。测定了母代雌蜂数量及其进果时间间隔、非传粉小蜂Sycoscapter trifemmensis数量对传粉榕小蜂Ceratosolen gravelyi后代数量（成蜂数量）和性比的影响,并分析了小蜂后代数量和性比的相关性。【结果】在榕果发育期一致的前提下,随着母代雌蜂数量的增加,每头雌蜂的平均后代数量明显下降(P<0.001),后代性比显著升高(P<0.001),后代数量和性比呈显著负相关(P<0.05);随着雌蜂进果间隔的延长,后代数量亦呈现下降趋势,且性比增大,放2头雌蜂和3头雌蜂的处理呈同样趋势,但差异均不显著(P=0.87; P=0.49),小蜂后代数量与性比无显著相关性(P=0.86)。此外,非传粉小蜂数量与传粉小蜂后代数量呈显著负相关(P<0.001),与传粉小蜂性比呈正相关(P<0.001),小蜂后代数量和性比同样呈现显著负相关(P<0.001)。【结论】本实验模拟了自然界中榕 蜂的相互作用,所得结果有助于我们理解自然状态下榕小蜂性比调节模式和机制,以及榕 蜂互利共生系统的进化机制。     

Confirmed mixed bird–insect pollination system of Scrophularia trifoliata L., a Tyrrhenian species with corolla spots

• Both bird and mixed vertebrate–insect (MVI) pollination systems are very rare in Europe and the Mediterranean region. Because MVI can ensure reproduction over a wider range of environmental conditions than when insects are the sole pollinators, under certain circumstances such systems are highly advantageous to plants. Here, we investigated the pollination and some reproductive traits of the Tyrrhenian Scrophularia trifoliata, the only species of the genus possessing two showy dark spots inside the corolla, for which MVI pollination system had been inferred on the basis of limited censuses.
• We conducted field experiments to study MVI pollination and some reproductive traits and elucidate the role of corolla spots, analysing their ultraviolet pattern, histology and pigments versus the rest of the corolla.
• The primary pollinators were wasps and passerine birds. Corolla spots absorb UV light, present abundant anthocyanins and are histologically identical to the rest of the corolla. Control flowers had higher visitation frequency than flowers without spots. S. trifoliata is self‐compatible, with efficient intrafloral protogyny and herkogamy that prevent self‐pollination but not geitonogamy.
• We confirmed the existence of a mixed bird–insect pollination system in S. trifoliata. This system is found in three other Scrophularia species with large, showy flowers – two Mediterranean (S. grandiflora and S. sambucifolia) and one Macaronesian (S. calliantha). Unlike those species, S. trifoliata has two large spots inside the corolla. These likely operate as nectar guides and their dark colouration is related to abundant anthocyanin content.

     

Development of 17 microsatellite markers for Ceratosolen constrictus, the pollinating fig wasp of Ficus fistulosa

The obligate mutualism between figs (Ficus) and fig pollinating wasps (Agaonidae) is regarded as a classic example of mutualism. Seventeen polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed for Ceratosolen constrictus, the pollinating wasp of the dioecious fig Ficus fistulosa. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to 15 and the observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.040 to 0.846 and from 0.040 to 0.916, respectively. These microsatellite loci offer a powerful tool for evolutionary and population genetic studies in C. constrictus, and gene flow of F. fistulosa.     

Moths boring into Ficus syconia on Iriomote Island, south-western Japan

Herbivory in the syconia of six Ficus (Moraceae) species (F. superba, F. varieagata, F. virgata, F. irisana, F. bengutensis and F. septica) was examined in March 2002 on Iriomote Island, south‐western Japan. Larvae of two lepidopteran species, Pachybotys spissalis (Guenée) (Pyralidae: Pyraustinae) and Stathmopoda sp. (Stathmopodidae) were observed to bore into the Ficus syconia. The attack rate by the moths varied from 0 to 38.5% across Ficus trees. The interiors of the syconia were heavily grazed by the moth larvae. Because figs (syconia) can be regarded as galls and seeds, according to sex and developmental stage, the moth larvae could be considered as gall or seed herbivores, and predators of fig wasps. Moth attack in the Ficus syconia could cause the destruction of fig wasp populations, as fig wasps develop in the syconia.