41-429: Akapalinae Eucharitinae Gollumiellinae Oraseminae The Eucharitidae are a family of parasitic wasps . Eucharitid wasps are members of the superfamily Chalcidoidea and consist of four subfamilies: Akapalinae, Eucharitinae, Gollumiellinae, and Oraseminae. Most of the 42 genera and >400 species of Eucharitidae are members of the subfamilies Oraseminae and Eucharitinae, and are found in tropical regions of
82-470: A bean plant hosting mutualistic (helpful) nitrogen-fixing bacteria . More specifically in botany , a host plant supplies food resources to micropredators, which have an evolutionarily stable relationship with their hosts similar to ectoparasitism . The host range is the collection of hosts that an organism can use as a partner. Symbiosis spans a wide variety of possible relationships between organisms, differing in their permanence and their effects on
123-455: A hawthorn tree, and migrates during the summer to its secondary host, a plant in the carrot family . The host range is the set of hosts that a parasite can use as a partner. In the case of human parasites, the host range influences the epidemiology of the parasitism or disease. For instance, the production of antigenic shifts in Influenza A virus can result from pigs being infected with
164-480: A brown color and ten days after oviposition, they hatch. The larvae are solely responsible for their entry into the ant colony and the parasitism of their host. They are 0.13 mm long and are able to travel several inches on the leaf but do not leave the egg cluster. After six to seven days, they attach themselves to foraging ants heading back to their brood ; however, sometimes they will attach themselves to other insects, using them as intermediate hosts . Once in
205-403: A deep sea giant tubeworm, has an obligate mutualistic association with internal, sulfide-oxidizing, bacterial symbionts. The tubeworm extracts the chemicals that the bacteria need from the sediment, and the bacteria supply the tubeworm, which has no mouth, with nutrients. Some hermit crabs place pieces of sponge on the shell in which they are living. These grow over and eventually dissolve away
246-455: A foraging ant. The larvae are external parasitoids of their hosts, and are not noticed due to their acquisition of the host’s odor. After the wasps are fully developed, they emerge in large numbers. The males swarm around the nest in wait of the females. Mating takes place immediately, and oviposition occurs soon after. A fossil genus, Palaeocharis is known from Eocene Baltic amber . Gollumiellinae are unique in that they hook their eggs onto
287-408: A high fertility rate, only a small percentage of eggs survive to adulthood. Eucharitinae are parasites of poneromorph ants, Ectatommatinae, Ponerinae, and Formicinae, although one genus from Australia is parasitic on the bulldog ant . Female Eucharitinae bear up to 4500 eggs and begin oviposition soon after emerging from the nest. They deposit their eggs in groups of eight to 15 on plant buds, on
328-420: A host and only become parasitic when environmental conditions deteriorate. A parasite may have a long-term relationship with its host, as is the case with all endoparasites. The guest seeks out the host and obtains food or another service from it, but does not usually kill it. In contrast, a parasitoid spends a large part of its life within or on a single host, ultimately causing the host's death, with some of
369-464: A limited host range is oligophagous, being restricted to a few closely related species, usually in the same plant family. The diamondback moth is an example of this, feeding exclusively on brassicas , and the larva of the potato tuber moth feeds on potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco, all members of the same plant family, Solanaceae . Herbivorous insects with a wide range of hosts in various different plant families are known as polyphagous . One example
410-428: A small predator lives parasitically on a much larger host plant, eating parts of it. The range of plants on which a herbivorous insect feeds is known as its host range. This can be wide or narrow, but it never includes all plants. A small number of insects are monophagous , feeding on a single plant. The silkworm larva is one of these, with mulberry leaves being the only food consumed. More often, an insect with
451-409: A specific ant genus. On the other hand, some eucharitids, including the genus Kapala , are classified as pests for several different reasons. First, a few days after oviposition occurs, the leaves dry up where each egg was located. Second, tea leaves with such marks reportedly do not have as strong of a flavor as tea leaves without these marks. Third, not all eucharitids have a significant effect on
SECTION 10
#1732844133383492-422: Is 29.5 days; the average pupal stage is 8.2 days. Because orasemine larvae, pupae, and adults are easily distinguished from their host, the wasps disguise themselves by passively obtaining the odor of the fire ants. After a few days in the nest, the odor wears off and the ants begin to notice the wasps are not a part of their brood. At this point, the wasps leave the nest to mate and lay eggs. Though orasemines have
533-575: Is a subfamily of chalcid wasps in the family Eucharitidae . This chalcid wasp -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Intermediate hosts In biology and medicine , a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism ; whether a parasitic , a mutualistic , or a commensalist guest ( symbiont ). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include animals playing host to parasitic worms (e.g. nematodes ), cells harbouring pathogenic (disease-causing) viruses , or
574-445: Is not always easy or even possible to identify which host is definitive and which secondary. The life cycles of many parasites are not well understood, and the subjectively or economically more important organism may initially be designated incorrectly as primary. Mislabelling may continue even after the error becomes known. For example trout and salmon are sometimes said to be "primary hosts" for salmonid whirling disease , even though
615-561: Is the buff ermine moth whose larvae feed on alder , mint , plantain , oak , rhubarb , currant , blackberry , dock , ragwort , nettle and honeysuckle . Plants often produce toxic or unpalatable secondary metabolites to deter herbivores from feeding on them. Monophagous insects have developed specific adaptations to overcome those in their specialist hosts, giving them an advantage over polyphagous species. However, this puts them at greater risk of extinction if their chosen hosts suffer setbacks. Monophagous species are able to feed on
656-631: The Hippocratic Corpus describes human bladder worm . The medieval Persian physician Avicenna recorded human and animal parasites including roundworms, threadworms, the Guinea worm and tapeworms. In Early Modern times, Francesco Redi recorded animal parasites, while the microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observed and illustrated the protozoan Giardia lamblia from "his own loose stools". Hosts to mutualistic symbionts were recognised more recently, when in 1877 Albert Bernhard Frank described
697-407: The brood parasitism of the cuckoo . Parasites follow a wide variety of evolutionary strategies, placing their hosts in an equally wide range of relationships. Parasitism implies host–parasite coevolution , including the maintenance of gene polymorphisms in the host, where there is a trade-off between the advantage of resistance to a parasite and a cost such as disease caused by the gene. It
738-464: The myxosporean parasite reproduces sexually inside the sludge worm . And where the host harbors the different parasite's phases at different sites within its body, the host is both intermediate and definitive: for example trichinosis , a disease caused by roundworms , where the host has immature juveniles in its muscles and reproductive adults in its digestive tract. Micropredation is an evolutionarily stable strategy within parasitism, in which
779-421: The amount of parasitism that occurs depends primarily on the size of the ant colony and the number of host pupae in them, and not on the season. Female eucharitids oviposit rows of eggs into plant tissue, such as leaves and stems, away from ant colonies. The eggs are a translucent white and are about 0.19 mm long and 0.08 mm wide. They are elliptical and flat on one side. As the eggs mature, they turn
820-536: The ant genus Pheidole (Myrmicinae), as well as the fire ant in southern South America and the little red fire ant in the Caribbean . They are distributed worldwide in tropical regions, such as Costa Rica , Ecuador , Brazil , and Argentina. They are also native to Texas , Florida , Massachusetts , Delaware , and Colorado. An orasemine female punctures the plant tissue on which she will oviposit, and places an egg inside of each incision. The eggs are deposited on
861-481: The brood, the larvae will attach to their host larva. Some Eucharitidae are external parasites while others are internal parasites; however, all eucharitid species finish their development as ectoparasites. Limited feeding on the host occurs until the host pupates, after which, most of it is consumed by the wasp. Usually, only one parasite per host is found, but in some cases, superparasitism occurs, and two to four wasps will attach to, and emerge from one host. Once
SECTION 20
#1732844133383902-449: The cleaner. Remoras (also called suckerfish) can swim freely but have evolved suckers that enable them to adhere to smooth surfaces, gaining a free ride ( phoresis ), and they spend most of their lives clinging to a host animal such as a whale, turtle or shark. However, the relationship may be mutualistic, as remoras, though not generally considered to be cleaner fish , often consume parasitic copepods : for example, these are found in
943-413: The edges of the underside of leaves, and are sometimes found in the buds and stems of the plant. They have been known to oviposit on blueberry leaves, tea leaves (Das), oak leaves, olive leaves, mango leaves, flower heads, and banana fingers. Species of Eucharitidae are consistent in their choice of leaf for oviposition. Because orasemine eggs are laid on plants that are not always visited by foraging ants,
984-581: The females emerge. Many times, the males will begin mating with the females before they have a chance to take flight, and in some instances, mating will occur while the wasps are still inside the ants' nest. After mating, the females lay all their eggs in one day. The egg capacity of each female is 1000 to 10000. Most eucharitids are between 2.0 and 5.4 mm long and vary from metallic colors to black. They have 13 or fewer segments on their antennae, but some have up to 26. The main anatomical characteristics of eucharitid wasps are: Oraseminae are parasitic on
1025-543: The fungus from the soil. Over 95% of plant families have been shown to have mycorrhizal associations. Another such relationship is between leguminous plants and certain nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia that form nodules on the roots of the plant. The host supplies the bacteria with the energy needed for nitrogen fixation and the bacteria provide much of the nitrogen needed by the host. Such crops as beans , peas , chickpeas and alfalfa are able to fix nitrogen in this way, and mixing clover with grasses increases
1066-491: The larvae will most often attach to intermediate hosts , or “insect prey” that will eventually be devoured by ants. Sometimes, however, foraging ants are present and there is no need for an intermediate host. Upon arriving at the ants’ brood, the larva burrows into the host's thorax and feeds there. The wasp feeds until the host larva pupates; after the host pupates, the wasp will resume feeding until it emerges from its host. The average time of development from planidia to adult
1107-401: The mollusc shell; the crab may not ever need to replace its abode again and is well-camouflaged by the overgrowth of sponge. An important hosting relationship is mycorrhiza , a symbiotic association between a fungus and the roots of a vascular host plant. The fungus receives carbohydrates, the products of photosynthesis, while the plant receives phosphates and nitrogenous compounds acquired by
1148-496: The other. For example, termites are hosts to the protozoa that live in their gut and which digest cellulose , and the human gut flora is essential for efficient digestion . Many corals and other marine invertebrates house zooxanthellae , single-celled algae, in their tissues. The host provides a protected environment in a well-lit position for the algae, while benefiting itself from the nutrients produced by photosynthesis which supplement its diet. Lamellibrachia luymesi ,
1189-505: The plants and connect a ropey secretion to them, which stand erect. This acts as an attraction mechanism for Paratrechina ants. Gollumiellinae larvae burrow into the hosts' thoraces and feed there. The rest of its life cycle is similar to the aforementioned life cycle of eucharitids. Two Indo‐Pacific genera are included here: This subfamily is monotypic, containing only the genus Akapala Girault, 1934 . Eucharitids are candidates for biological control because each subfamily targets
1230-402: The scent wears off, at which point they leave the ant colony and begin mating. Adult wasps emerge from the ant nest in the morning; the males emerge before the females. In most cases, the males swarm one to two feet above the nest, and as soon as the females emerge, mating occurs. However, the males of certain species, such as Kapala terminalis , calmly wait on foliage surrounding the nest until
1271-428: The sea and on land, making use of smaller animals to clean them of parasites. Cleaners include fish, shrimps and birds; hosts or clients include a much wider range of fish, marine reptiles including turtles and iguanas, octopus, whales, and terrestrial mammals. The host appears to benefit from the interaction, but biologists have disputed whether this is a truly mutualistic relationship or something closer to parasitism by
Eucharitidae - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-626: The size of their hosts' colony. Orasema species are sometimes used as means of biological control for many ants, including the fire ant and little fire ant, because pesticides can cause damage to the environment, and they do not always work on fire ants. In addition, at least two eucharitid species groups are specialized parasites of these ants. Heraty stated, “Leaving aside the philosophical problems associated with introducing any organism for biological control, I believe that species of Orasema do have potential as biological control agents and deserve more study.” Eucharitinae Eucharitinae
1353-527: The stomach contents of 70% of the common remora . Many molluscs , barnacles and polychaete worms attach themselves to the carapace of the Atlantic horseshoe crab ; for some this is a convenient arrangement, but for others it is an obligate form of commensalism and they live nowhere else. The first host to be noticed in ancient times was human: human parasites such as hookworm are recorded from ancient Egypt from 3000 BC onwards, while in ancient Greece ,
1394-455: The strategies involved verging on predation . Generally, the host is kept alive until the parasitoid is fully grown and ready to pass on to its next life stage. A guest's relationship with its host may be intermittent or temporary, perhaps associated with multiple hosts, making the relationship equivalent to the herbivory of a wild-living animal. Another possibility is that the host–guest relationship may have no permanent physical contact, as in
1435-534: The tender young foliage with high concentrations of damaging chemicals on which polyphagous species cannot feed, having to make do with older leaves. There is a trade off between offspring quality and quantity; the specialist maximises the chances of its young thriving by paying great attention to the choice of host, while the generalist produces larger numbers of eggs in sub-optimal conditions. Some insect micropredators migrate regularly from one host to another. The hawthorn-carrot aphid overwinters on its primary host,
1476-557: The two parties. If one of the partners in an association is much larger than the other, it is generally known as the host. In parasitism , the parasite benefits at the host's expense. In commensalism , the two live together without harming each other, while in mutualism , both parties benefit. Most parasites are only parasitic for part of their life cycle. By comparing parasites with their closest free-living relatives, parasitism has been shown to have evolved on at least 233 separate occasions. Some organisms live in close association with
1517-404: The undersides of leaves or on fruit skin. Eucharitine larvae attach themselves to foraging ants and do not use an intermediate host. Some species of Eucharitinae, such as Kapala terminalis and other Kapala sp., have been known for their jumping capabilities. They stand erect on the plant on which they hatched, and without any distinguishable preparation, jump about 10 mm from the leaf onto
1558-528: The virus from several different hosts (such as human and bird). This co-infection provides an opportunity for mixing of the viral genes between existing strains, thereby producing a new viral strain. An influenza vaccine produced against an existing viral strain might not be effective against this new strain, which then requires a new influenza vaccine to be prepared for the protection of the human population. Some hosts participate in fully mutualistic interactions with both organisms being completely dependent on
1599-439: The wasps emerge, the ant colony grooms and feeds them as if they were part of the ants’ brood. In some instances, worker ants have been observed assisting the wasps to emerge from their host. The wasps gain acceptance in these ways, and the ants show no signs of aggression because the wasps acquire their host's odor upon entry into the colony. By mimicking the odor of their host, eucharitid wasps are able to keep themselves safe until
1640-402: The world. Eucharitids are specialized parasitoids of ants , meaning each species is usually only parasitic of one genus of ant. Furthermore, they are one of the few parasitoids that have been able to use ants as hosts, despite ants’ effective defense systems against most parasitoids. Eucharitid parasitism occurs year-round, with a majority of it occurring during hot and humid months. However,
1681-443: The yield of pastures. Neurotransmitter tyramine produced by commensal Providencia bacteria, which colonize the gut of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans , bypasses the requirement for its host to biosynthesise tyramine. This product is then probably converted to octopamine by the host enzyme tyramine β-hydroxylase and manipulates a host sensory decision. Hosts of many species are involved in cleaning symbiosis , both in