An acarinarium is a specialized anatomical structure which is evolved to facilitate the retention of mites on the body of an organism, typically a bee or a wasp. The term was introduced by Walter Karl Johann Roepke. [1]
An acarinarium is a specialized anatomical structure which is evolved to facilitate the retention of mites on the body of an organism, typically a bee or a wasp. The term was introduced by Walter Karl Johann Roepke. [1]
The acarinarium has evolved to enhance the mutualistic relationship between the mites and the host organism. There are numerous cases where mites are phoretic on organisms that benefit from the mites' presence; cases where the host's body has changed over evolutionary time to accommodate the mites are far less common. The best-known examples are among the Apocritan Hymenoptera, in which the hosts are typically nest-making species, and it appears that the mites feed on fungi in the host nests (thus keeping away the fungi from host's offspring or their provisions), or possibly other parasites or mites whose presence in the nest is detrimental to the hosts. It is especially telling that nearly all the examples involve only the females of the host species, as it is the females that build and provision the nests. [2] Fossil evidence of halictid bees with an acarinarium is found in the early Miocene extinct genus Oligochlora from Dominican amber deposits on Hispaniola. [3]
The presence or absence of this structure has been used as a taxonomic character. [3] [4]
Several examples can be found among the bees, and in most such cases, only the females possess acarinaria:
Other examples include:
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are presently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 16,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some species – including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees – live socially in colonies while most species (>90%) – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary.
Carpenter bees are species in the genus Xylocopa of the subfamily Xylocopinae. The genus includes some 500 bees in 31 subgenera. The common name "carpenter bee" derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant material such as dead wood or bamboo. The main exceptions are species in the subgenus Proxylocopa, which dig nesting tunnels in suitable soil.
Halictidae is the second-largest family of bees with nearly 4,500 species. They are commonly called sweat bees, as they are often attracted to perspiration. Halictid species are an extremely diverse group that can vary greatly in appearance. These bees occur all over the world and are found on every continent except Antarctica. Usually dark-colored and often metallic, halictids are found in various sizes, colors and patterns. Several species are all or partly green and a few are red, purple, or blue. A number of them have yellow markings, especially the males, which commonly have yellow faces, a pattern widespread among the various families of bees. The family is one of many with short tongues and is best distinguished by the arcuate basal vein found on the wing. Females in this family tend to be larger than the males.
The subfamily Xylocopinae occurs worldwide, and includes the large carpenter bees, the small carpenter bees, the allodapine bees, and the relictual genus Manuelia.
The subfamily Chrysidinae contains those species that are most commonly recognized as cuckoo wasps, being by far the largest and most familiar subfamily. The group contains 3000 species with 48 genera worldwide. They are highly sculptured, with brilliantly metallic-colored bodies, covering the entire spectrum, but primarily blues and greens.
The Stenogastrinae are a subfamily of social wasps included in the family Vespidae. They are sometimes called hover wasps owing to the particular hovering flight of some species. Their morphology and biology present interesting peculiarities.
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
Parancistrocerus is a rather large genus of potter wasps whose distribution spans the Nearctic, eastern Palearctic, Oriental and Neotropical regions. A pair of medial pits on the anterior face of the pronotum and the expansion of the tegulae put this genus close to the genus Stenodynerus and many species of both genera are somewhat difficult to assignate to their respective genus.
Histiostoma is a genus of mites in the family Histiostomatidae.
Parasitellus is a genus of mites in the family Parasitidae which are obligatory parasites of bumblebees. These mites can be found clinging to the carapace, sometimes in large numbers. Mites in this genus hibernate in the deutonymphal stage. In the tritonymph stage they can actively transfer from bumblebee to bumblebee from flowers, where they can survive up to 24 hours. After they arrive in a bumblebee nest, they will moult into adults. Whilst it is not known what factors trigger the mite to molt, in laboratory conditions P. fucorum were found to moult after eating fresh pollen, although overall moulting success was low. They are kleptoparasitic or neutral to beneficial, depending on life stage; females and deutonymphs feed on provisioned pollen, while other stages are predators of small arthropods.
Phoresis or phoresy is a non-permanent, commensalistic interaction in which one organism attaches itself to another solely for the purpose of travel. Phoresis has been observed directly in ticks and mites since the 18th century, and indirectly in fossils 320 million years old. It is not restricted to arthropods or animals; plants with seeds that disperse by attaching themselves to animals are also considered to be phoretic.
Sphecius grandis, also called the western cicada killer, is a species of cicada killer wasp (Sphecius). The western species shares the same nesting biology as its fellow species, the eastern cicada killer. S. grandis, like all other species of the genus Sphecius, mainly provides cicadas for its offspring. It forms nest aggregations and mates and broods once in a year, in July and early August. The wasp is on average 3 cm (1 in) to 5 cm (2 in) in length and is amber-yellow with yellow rings on its abdomen.
Xylocopa caffra is a species of Afrotropical carpenter bee that ranges from west to central and southern Africa, besides Madagascar and some Indian Ocean archipelagos.
Chrysis ignita is a species of cuckoo wasp. It is one of a group of species which are difficult to separate and which may be referred to as ruby-tailed wasps.
Lasioglossum leucozonium, also known as Lasioglossum similis, is a widespread solitary sweat bee found in North America, Europe, Asia, and parts of northern Africa. While now a common bee in North America, population genetic analysis has shown that it is actually an introduced species in this region. This population was most likely founded by a single female bee.
Halictus sexcinctus, commonly referred to as the six-banded furrow bee, is a species of sweat bee found throughout Europe and as far east as Asian Turkey and Iraq.The H. sexcinctus can be easily confused with the closely related species, Halictus scabiosae, due to very similar morphological features. H. sexcinctus show a social polymorphism in which different colonies can exhibit solitary, communal, or eusocial structure. Due to this large variance in social organization, it was suspected that it was not one species at all, but rather multiple, cryptic species. However, genetic analysis was able to confirm these varying populations as one species. H. sexcinctus will forage from multiple flower species, but prefers plant species with wide-open flowers. Their nests can be found dug into the ground in loamy or sandy soil.
Chaetodactylus is a genus of parasitic mite primarily associated with solitary bees with over 20 species.
Melittobia australica is a species of chalcid wasp from the family Eulophidae which is a gregarious ecto-parasitoid of acuealate Hymenoptera.
Roubikia is a genus of bee-associated mites occurring in the neotropics. They are mutualists or commensals, and feed on fatty acids from floral oils and most likely on fungi. The type species is Chaetodactylus panamensis.
Symmorphus cristatus is a species of mason wasp in the subfamily Eumeninae within the family Vespidae. This species is widely distributed in North America, and it preys on the larvae of leaf beetles.
