Cognitive abilities related to foraging behavior in Vespula vulgaris (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)
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PROVIDER: S-EPMC11345499 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:For an ongoing systematic study of Korean Vespidae, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of a social wasp, Vespula rufa (Linnaeus 1758), from the South Korea. The mitogenome is 17,521 bp in length, comprising 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The nucleotide composition is 40.5% adenines, 43.0% thymines, 6.0% guanines, and 10.5% cytosines. The GC content is 16.5%. A maximum-likelihood analysis was conducted to understand phylogenetic relationships, based on 13 complete mitogenome sequences of Vespinae species. We recognized that V. rufa is being placed basal within the genus Vespula. The complete mitochondrial genome of V. rufa provides useful genetic information for further studies.
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Project description:The wing venation is frequently used as a morphological marker to distinguish biological groups among insects. With geometric morphometrics, minute shape differences can be detected between closely related species or populations, making this technique useful for taxonomy. However, the direct influence of genetic differences on wing morphology has not been explored within colonies of social insects. Here, we show that the father's genotype has a direct effect on wing morphology in colonies of social wasps. Using geometric morphometrics on the venation pattern, we found significant differences in wing size and shape between patrilines of yellowjackets, taking allometry and measurement error into account. The genetic influence on wing size accounted for a small part of the overall size variation, but venation shape was highly structured by the differences between patrilines. Overall, our results showed a strong genetic influence on wing morphology likely acting at multiple levels of venation pattern development. This confirmed the pertinence of this marker for taxonomic purposes and suggests this phenotype as a potentially useful marker for phylogenies. This also raises doubts about the strength of selective pressures on this phenotype, which highlights the need to understand better the role of wing venation shape in insect flight.
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Project description:Celonites kozlovi Kostylev, 1935, and C. sibiricus Gusenleitner, 2007, coexist in semi-deserts of the Altai Mountains. The trophic relationships of these pollen wasp species to flowers are largely unknown. We observed the flower visits and behaviors of wasps on flowers; pollen-collecting structures of females were studied using SEM; the taxonomic position of these two species was ascertained with the barcoding sequence of the mitochondrial COI-5P gene. Celonites kozlovi and C. sibiricus form a clade together with C. hellenicus Gusenleitner, 1997, and C. iranus Gusenleitner, 2018, within the subgenus Eucelonites Richards, 1962. Celonites kozlovi is polylectic in the narrow sense, collecting pollen from flowers of plants belonging to five families (with the predomination of Asteraceae and Lamiaceae) using diverse methods for both pollen and nectar uptake. In addition, this species is a secondary nectar robber, which has not been observed in pollen wasps before. The generalistic foraging strategy of C. kozlovi is correlated with an unspecialized pollen-collecting apparatus on the fore-tarsi. In contrast, C. sibiricus is broadly oligolectic, predominantly collecting pollen from flowers of Lamiaceae. Its specialized foraging strategy is associated with apomorphic behavioral and morphological traits, particularly specialized pollen-collecting setae on the frons, which enable indirect pollen uptake using nototribic anthers. These adaptations in C. sibiricus evolved independently of similar specializations in the Celonites abbreviatus-complex. Celonites kozlovi is re-described, and males are described for the first time.
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Project description:Vespula germanica is a social wasp that has become established outside its native range in many regions of the world, becoming a major pest in the invaded areas. In the present work we analyze social communication processes used by V. germanica when exploiting un-depleted food sources. For this purpose, we investigated the arrival pattern of wasps at a protein bait and evaluated whether a forager recruited conspecifics in three different situations: foragers were able to return to the nest (full communication), foragers were removed on arrival (communication impeded), or only one forager was allowed to return to the nest (local enhancement restricted). Results demonstrated the existence of recruitment in V. germanica, given that very different patterns of wasp arrivals and a higher frequency of wasp visits to the resource were observed when communication flow between experienced and naive foragers was allowed. Our findings showed that recruitment takes place at a distance from the food source, in addition to local enhancement. When both local enhancement and distant recruitment were occurring simultaneously, the pattern of wasp arrival was exponential. When recruitment occurred only distant from the feeder, the arrival pattern was linear, but the number of wasps arriving was twice as many as when neither communication nor local enhancement was allowed. Moreover, when return to the nest was impeded, wasp arrival at the bait was regular and constant, indicating that naive wasps forage individually and are not spatially aggregated. In conclusion, this is the first study to demonstrate recruitment in V. germanica at a distance from the food source by modelling wasps' arrival to a protein-based resource. In addition, the existence of correlations when communication was allowed and reflected in tandem arrivals indicates that we were not in the presence of random processes.
| S-EPMC4798183 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To date, only one mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) in the Eumeninae has been reported in the world and this is the first report in China. The mitogenome of O.a.aterrimus is 17 972 bp long, and contains 38 genes, including 13 protein coding genes (PCGs), 23 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, a long non-coding region (NCR), and a control region (CR). The mitogenome has 79.43% A + T content, its 13 PCGs use ATN as the initiation codon except for cox1 using TTG, and nine genes used complete translation termination TAA and four genes have incomplete stop codon T (cox2, cox3, nad4, and cytb). Twenty-two of 23 tRNAs can form the typical cloverleaf secondary structure except for trnS1. The CR is 1 078 bp long with 84.69% A+T content, comprising 28 bp tandem repeat sequences and 13 bp T-strech. There are two gene rearrangements which are an extra trnM2 located between trnQ and nad2 and the trnL2 in the upstream of nad1. Within all rearrangements of these mitogenomes reported in the family Vespidae, the translocation between trnS1 and trnE genes only appears in Vespinae, and the translocation of trnY in Polistinae and Vespinae. The absent codons of 13 PCGs in Polistinae are more than those both in Vespinae and Eumeninae in the family Vespidae. The study reports the complete mitogenome of O.a.aterrimus, compares the characteristics and construct phylogenetic relationships of the mitogenomes in the family Vespidae.
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Project description:Background and Objective:Goal-directed behavior is a central feature of human functioning. It requires goal appraisal and implicit cost-benefit analyses, i.e., how much effort to invest in the pursuit of a certain goal, against its value and a confidence judgment regarding the chance of attainment. Persons with severe mental illness such as psychosis often struggle with reaching goals. Cognitive deficits, positive symptoms restricting balanced judgment, and negative symptoms such as anhedonia and avolition may compromise goal attainment. The objective of this study was to investigate to what degree symptom severity is related to cognitive abilities, metacognition, and effort-based decision-making in a visual search task. Methods:Two studies were conducted: study 1: N = 52 (healthy controls), and study 2: N = 46 (23 patients with psychosis/23 matched healthy controls). Symptoms were measured by the CAPE-42 (study 1) and the PANSS (study 2). By using a visual search task, we concomitantly measured (a) accuracy in short-term memory, (b) perceived accuracy by participants making a capture area or confidence interval, and (c) effort by measuring how long one searched for the target. Perseverance was assessed in trials in which the target was omitted and search had to be abandoned. Results:Higher levels of positive symptoms, and having a diagnosis of psychosis, were associated with larger errors in memory. Participants adjusted both their capture area and their search investment to the error of their memory. Perseverance was associated with negative symptoms in study 1 but not in study 2. Conclusion:By simultaneously assessing error and confidence in one's memory, as well as effort in search, we found that memory was affected by positive, not negative, symptoms in healthy controls, and was reduced in patients with psychosis. However, impaired memory did not concur with overconfidence or less effort in search, i.e., goal directed behavior was unrelated to symptoms or diagnosis. Metacognition and motivation were neither affected by cognitive abilities nor by negative symptoms. Clinically, this could indicate that struggles with goal directed behavior in psychosis may not solely be dependent on primary illness factors.
| S-EPMC7438796 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The activities of social insect colonies are supported by exocrine glands and the tremendous functional diversity of the compounds that they secrete. Many social wasps in the subfamilies Vespinae and Polistinae have two sternal glands-the van der Vecht and Richards' glands-that vary in their features and function across the species in which they are found. Field observations suggest that giant hornets use secretions from the van der Vecht gland to chemically mark targeted nests when workers initiate group attacks on social insect prey. However, descriptions of giant hornets' sternal glands and details about their recruitment behavior are lacking. We describe the morphology of the sternal glands of the giant hornet Vespa soror du Buysson and consider their potential to contribute to a marking pheromone. We also assess the gastral rubbing behavior of workers as they attacked Apis cerana F. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies. V. soror workers have well-developed van der Vecht and Richards' glands on their terminal gastral sternites, with morphologies that robustly support the synthesis, storage, and dissemination of their secretory products. Observations confirm that the van der Vecht gland is exposed during gastral rubbing, but that the Richards' gland and glands associated with the sting apparatus may also contribute to a marking pheromone. Workers briefly but repeatedly rubbed their gasters around hive entrances and on overhead vegetation. Colonies were heavily marked over consecutive attacks. Our findings provide insight into the use of exocrine secretions by giant hornets as they recruit nestmates to prey colonies for group attacks.
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Project description:Social wasps can be serious pests in fruit growing plantings and are becoming increasingly problematic for grape growers. In this study, we conducted two experiments to assess the species composition and seasonal phenology of social wasps in Wisconsin vineyards in 2015 and 2017. In 2015, three attractants were used: (1) wine; (2) heptyl butyrate (HB); and (3) acetic acid and isobutanol (AAIB) and in 2017, two attractants were used: HB and AAIB. In both years, the same eight species were trapped from the genera Vespula, Dolichovespula, and Polistes. The predominant wasp species trapped were Vespula maculifrons, Vespula vidua, Vespula flavopilosa, and Vespula germanica in 2015 and V. maculifrons, V. flavopilosa, V. germanica, and Dolichovespula maculata in 2017, in order of total abundance. The populations of V. vidua decreased in 2017 compared to 2015, indicating large inter-annual variation. In both years, AAIB lures trapped significantly more V. flavopilosa, V. maculifrons, and V. germanica, the three most prevalent species during grape harvest, than HB, whereas HB lures trapped more V. vidua than AAIB. Wine was generally attractive to all species in 2015. This study identifies for the first time the wasp species present in Wisconsin commercial vineyards using chemical attractants. This knowledge, along with the seasonal phenology of these pest species, will help facilitate the development of management strategies for social wasps in commercial vineyards.
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Project description: Not available
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