The Ecology of Passalus Cornutus Fabricius, a Beetle which Lives in Rotting Logs

Pearse, A. S.; Patterson, M T; Rankin, John S.; Wharton, G. W.

doi:10.2307/1943239

Cited by 60 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…disjunctus, a passalid beetle, is a large and wellknown arthropod detritivore with a broad distribution throughout eastern North America and southern Canada (Pearse et al, 1936). These beetles show a subsocial behavior inhabiting decaying hardwoods and surviving on a low-nutrient diet, a feature that has been shown in termites to require the presence of symbiotic microorganisms such as bacteria and flagellates that contribute to nitrogen fixation and lignocellulose digestion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These insects spend their entire lives (14-16 months) within decayed wood of class III or above (visual and physical signs of decay present) where they feed and raise their larvae in subsocial communities. Adult beetles feed larvae a mixture of macerated wood and frass to replenish the microbes lost while shedding of the sclerotized hindgut during larval development (Pearse et al, 1936;Gray, 1946). Observations of this behavior, and the high degree of genetic similarity of fungal associates found in widely dispersed beetle specimens , provides an initial indication of the importance of microbial symbionts to these beetles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first reported gut microorganism of this beetle was the protozoan Gregarina passali-cornuti (Leidy, 1852). Later, the communities of phoretic arthropods and eukaryotic gut organisms were more extensively reported by Pearse et al (1936), followed a decade later by life history studies by Gray (1946). More recently, a number of yeasts and other eukaryotic organisms, including parabasalids, have been cultured or cloned and identified from the O. disjunctus gut Zhang et al, 2003;Nguyen et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compartmentalized microbial composition, oxygen gradients and nitrogen fixation in the gut ofOdontotaenius disjunctus

et al. 2013

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Coarse woody debris is an important biomass pool in forest ecosystems that numerous groups of insects have evolved to take advantage of. These insects are ecologically important and represent useful natural analogs for biomass to biofuel conversion. Using a range of molecular approaches combined with microelectrode measurements of oxygen, we have characterized the gut microbiome and physiology of Odontotaenius disjunctus, a wood-feeding beetle native to the eastern United States. We hypothesized that morphological and physiological differences among gut regions would correspond to distinct microbial populations and activities. In fact, significantly different communities were found in the foregut (FG), midgut (MG)/posterior hindgut (PHG) and anterior hindgut (AHG), with Actinobacteria and Rhizobiales being more abundant toward the FG and PHG. Conversely, fermentative bacteria such as Bacteroidetes and Clostridia were more abundant in the AHG, and also the sole region where methanogenic Archaea were detected. Although each gut region possessed an anaerobic core, micron-scale profiling identified radial gradients in oxygen concentration in all regions. Nitrogen fixation was confirmed by 15 N 2 incorporation, and nitrogenase gene (nifH) expression was greatest in the AHG. Phylogenetic analysis of nifH identified the most abundant transcript as related to Ni-Fe nitrogenase of a Bacteroidetes species, Paludibacter propionicigenes. Overall, we demonstrate not only a compartmentalized microbiome in this beetle digestive tract but also sharp oxygen gradients that may permit aerobic and anaerobic metabolism to occur within the same regions in close proximity. We provide evidence for the microbial fixation of N 2 that is important for this beetle to subsist on woody biomass.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compartmentalized microbial composition, oxygen gradients and nitrogen fixation in the gut ofOdontotaenius disjunctus

et al. 2013

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“…Estudios previos han reportado a Popilius disjunctus con 16 especies (nueve familias) (Delfinado & Baker, 1975), Passalus cornutus con 13 especies (ocho familias) (Pearse, Patterson, Rankin, & Wharton, 1936) y Passalus cognathus con ocho especies (ocho familias) CUADRO 5 Índices de diversidad y riqueza para las dos especies de pasálidos (Villegas-Guzmán, Pérez, & Reyes-Castillo, 2008). En cuanto a la distribución de los ácaros sobre el cuerpo del pasálido, lo reportado coincide con los trabajos de Schuster y Summers (1978), Wallace (1986) y Villegas-Guzmán et al (2008.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…Dendrolaelaps ha sido registrado bajo los élitros, proesternón, mesoesternón, metaesternón, trocánter III y en los urosternitos (Hunter, 1993a;Cómbita-Heredia, 2006). Los diartrofálidos se extrajeron principalmente bajo los élitros y las alas membranosas, además en zonas expuestas como lo son las coxas, tibias, proesternón y mentón, lo que coincide con los datos obtenidos por Schuster y Summers (1978) y Pearse et al (1936).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Ácaros asociados a dos especies de Odontotaenius (Coleoptera: Passalidae) en México

Barrios-Torres¹,

Villegas-Guzmán²

2015

RBT

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Mites associated with two species of the genus Odontotaenius (Coleoptera: Passalidae) in Mexico. Mites can establish association with different arthropods as coleopterans families Scarabaeidae and Passalidae. Passalids are distributed in tropical and templates zones, and until now, more than 200 species of mites have been associated to them. One of the relationships between passalids and mites is the phoresy where one small animal (the phoretic) seeks out and attaches to another animal (the host) for transportation. Herein, we studied the mites associated to O. zodiacus and O. striatopunctatus; for this, 80 Odontotaenius with mites were reviewed; passalids were collected in and under decaying logs from six states of Mexico, and were individually kept in vials with 80% ethanol. The specimens were carried to the laboratory and mites removed with fine-pointed forceps under stereo microscope. The mites were stored with 80 % alcohol until some were cleared with lacto-phenol and mounted in Hoyer's solution. We found 1 945 mites belonging to 13 families (Acaridae, Ascidae, Diarthrophallidae, Digamasellidae, Diplogyniidae, Euzerconidae, Heterocheylidae, Histiostomatidae, Klinckowstroemiidae, Laelapidae, Megisthanidae, Trematuridae, and Uropodidae) and 42 species, being the most abundant species Anoetus sp. For O. striatopunctatus (16 specimens) we found 562 mites (95 ♀♀, 34 ♂♂, 197 hypopus, 234 deutonymph, 2 tritonymph) of 11 families and 22 species; the most abundant were Uropodidae (42 %) and Histiostomatidae (26 %). While for O. zodiacus (64 specimens) were found 1 383 mites (300 ♀♀, 204 ♂♂, 608 hypopus, 139 deutonymphs, 133 tritonymphs) of 10 families and 30 species; the most abundant were: Diartrophallidae, Acaridae, and Histiostomatidae (23 % for the two first and 21 % for third). The high abundance and richness was in O. zodiacus, likewise Margalef (S´) and Shanon-Winner (H´) indexes were higher in this species (O. zodiacus S´ = 4.05, H´ = 2.2; O striatopunctatus S´ = 3.34, H´ = 1.94), while Equity (E H ) was similar to both hosts (O. zodiacus E H = 0.64; O. striatopunctatus E H = 0.63). The mites were found principally in the protected zone of the passalid's body, as under elytron, membranous wings, and in the clefts of the ventral region of the passalid, and, in minor proportion, on the head and coxal regions. From our findings, 12 species were new records for the Mexican passalids: Abrotarsala cuneiformis, A. obesa, A. pyriformis

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Ecology and Conservation of Passalidae

Ulyshen

2018

Zoological Monographs

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The Ecology of Passalus Cornutus Fabricius, a Beetle which Lives in Rotting Logs

Cited by 60 publications

References 13 publications

Compartmentalized microbial composition, oxygen gradients and nitrogen fixation in the gut ofOdontotaenius disjunctus

Compartmentalized microbial composition, oxygen gradients and nitrogen fixation in the gut ofOdontotaenius disjunctus

Ácaros asociados a dos especies de Odontotaenius (Coleoptera: Passalidae) en México

Ecology and Conservation of Passalidae

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