1 / 15

Berry Ant Mimic

Berry Ant Mimic. By: Melissa Neis Biology 4800. Examples of Other Parasite induced physiological changes. Leucochloridium: Metacercariae imitating caterpillars Whirling Disease: Black Tail Sacculina: Altering the ovary of females and turning the males female. Berry Ant Mimic.

afra
Download Presentation

Berry Ant Mimic

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Berry Ant Mimic By: Melissa Neis Biology 4800

  2. Examples of Other Parasite induced physiological changes • Leucochloridium: Metacercariae imitating caterpillars • Whirling Disease: Black Tail • Sacculina: Altering the ovary of females and turning the males female

  3. Berry Ant Mimic • Tetradonmatid Nematode: Myrmeconema neotropicum Ant: Cephalotes atratus • Studied most extensively in Panama

  4. Life Cycle

  5. Hypothesis for Possible Mimicry • Bird Predation • Other Physiological changes besides strictly appearance to aid in bird predation.

  6. Colour Wavelength

  7. Modes of Physical Change • Red colour of gaster • Decreased ant defence: Venom • Decreased body size • Increased Weight • Weakening of the nerve that attaches the gaster to the body

  8. Modes of Behavioural change • Sluggish Movement • Gaster Flagging or holding them higher • Ant Age

  9. Behavioural and Physical Change occur simultaneously • Gaster Colour change coordinates with: • Gaster flagging • No Alarm defences were present • Ants movement became sluggish • Less Aggressive

  10. Gaster Colour and Predation • The believed mechanism of the Gaster colour is attributed to: • Thinning of the gaster cuticle • Developing embryo's giving off a yellow colouration and secreting enzymes. • Predation on red and pink colours was tested using clay balls of multiple colours. • Researchers have also tested the preference of infected to infected by tethering ants to sticks and monitoring gaster removal.

  11. Forager Food Preference • Researcher examined all items collected by foragers : • Feces (68%) • Dead ants and insect parts (24%) • Brood: Eggs and Larvae (85%) • Unidentifiable Material (less than 1%)

  12. Interpretation • Reasoning behind fruit mimicry: • Ingested to continue life cycle • Reduced Defenses: • Increase ingestion by birds • Sluggish Behaviour • To increase amount being eaten as the birds are more likely to be alluded if the ants are more stationary

  13. Possible areas for Further Study • As this system is newly learned other areas of future study could include: • Co-adaptation of fruit mimicry with decrease in host defences and the mechanisms • Gaster Flagging: Parasite induced enzymes or general damage of the growing adults?

  14. References • Yanoviak et al. (2008). Parasite-Induced Fruit Mimicry in a Tropical Canopy Ant, 171(4), 536-544

  15. Questions

More Related