Specialized feeding of Euconnus pubicollis (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Scydmaeninae) on oribatid mites: Prey preferences and hunting behaviour

Jałoszyński, Paweł; Olszanowski, Ziemowit

doi:10.14411/eje.2013.047

Cited by 23 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…This unusual specialization is still poorly understood, and already several distinct variants of feeding techniques and narrow prey preferences toward only certain mite taxa or particular mite morphological forms have been discovered (Jałoszyński and Olszanowski, 2013. The acarophagy of scydmaenines is a challenging research problem in the study of predator-prey system evolution.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The acarophagy of scydmaenines is a challenging research problem in the study of predator-prey system evolution. The feeding process was demonstrated to take sometimes over 30 hours (Jałoszyński and Olszanowski, 2013), and involves an energy-and time-consuming breaching of the mite's defence. This is an unusual feeding strategy in an ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ninety million years of chasing mites by ant-like stone beetles

2017

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Among insects, the largest group of the Animal Kingdom, rove beetles (Staphylinidae) have undergone an enormous adaptive radiation that resulted in over 62,000 extant species (A.F. Newton, unpublished database) showing diverse body forms, structures and feeding specializations combining predaceous, mycophagous, saprophagous and ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTA C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T 2 phytophagous habits in one family. The morphology of extinct and extant species is well studied, but the evolutionary history of such a broad range of adaptations is scarcely documented in the fossil record, and therefore poorly understood. One of the most puzzling specializations is that of predaceous ant-like stone beetles (Scydmaeninae), a staphylinid subfamily whose members choose not a soft-bodied prey, but the most heavily sclerotized, well-protected armoured mites. Scydmaenines have evolved a unique prey capturing apparatus with adhesive suckers to capture their prey, and the feeding process is remarkably long, often exceeding 30 h. The mouthparts with paired suckers cannot be used to catch any other kind of prey, and therefore finding such a device in extinct taxa implies specialized acarophagy. For the first time, we demonstrate that this very narrow specialization has ancient origins, and the Mesozoic (Turonian)Hyperstenichnus vendeanus Jałoszyński & Perrichot, gen. et sp. nov. from Vendean (French) amber was already an advanced, specialized mite killer. Surprisingly, the mouthpart modifications of the new species are more advanced than those in its extant relatives, suggesting that its (possibly too) narrowly specialized lineage has gone extinct.A long stasis of morphological structures is well known among Staphylinidae, and now also antiquity of narrow feeding specializations in rove beetles can be postulated, with unique habits remaining unchanged for over 90 million years.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ninety million years of chasing mites by ant-like stone beetles

2017

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“…It seems to be highly effective: rove beetles of the genus Stenus are not able to crack the cuticle of Euphthiracarus cribrarius (Berlese, 1904) (own unpublished observations). Interestingly, ptychoidy is ineffective against Euconnus pubicollis (Müller and Kunze, 1822), a rove beetle of the sub-family Scydmaeninae, who given a choice of heavily protected oribatid mites prefers species of the family Phthiracaridae to others (Jałoszyński and Olszanowski, 2013).…”

Section: Generalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Norton and Lions, 1992;Lions and Norton, 1998;Sanders and Norton, 2004;Schmelzle et al, 2008Schmelzle et al, , 2009Schmelzle et al, , 2010Schmelzle et al, , 2012. These two different modes of pressure build-up within the Ptyctima could also explain why E. pubicollis given a choice of only heavily sclerotized mites prefer Phthiracaridae to the others (Jałoszyński and Olszanowski, 2013). After completely covering the animals with digestive fluid (possibly killing or anesthetizing the mites so that the muscles relax), E. pubicollis turns the phthiracarid mites on their dorsal side and then trying to pry open the prodorsum with their mandibles usually whilst pressing down on the ventral plates (Jałoszyński and Olszanowski, 2013), thereby increasing hydrostatic pressure within the animals which leads to an increase of pressure on the prodorsum until it opens and in doing so clears the way for access to vulnerable soft membrane of the mites.…”

Section: P Longulus (A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heethoff and Koerner, 2007, for A. longisetosus), which in some cases might be a better choice than to let go entirely. For example, the highly effective predator E. pubicollis turns the mite on its dorsal side and then presses on the ventral plates to create the hydrostatic pressure needed to get access to soft membrane (Jałoszyński and Olszanowski, 2013). If the mite retains the ability to attach to the substrate (with the ventral plates facing the substrate) it may give an advantage when confronted with such an attack.…”

Section: Further Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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