Luttenschlager Hugo, Noël Grégoire, Carpentier Joachim, Glacet Lallie, Ravelomanana Andrianjaka, Rakotonirina Jean Claude, Rajaonera Tahina, Francis Frédéric
Lab d'Entomologie Fonctionnelle Et Évolutive, Univ de Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium.
Depto d'Entomologie-Culture, Elevage Et Santé de La Faculté Des Sciences, Univ d'Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Neotrop Entomol. 2025 Feb 20;54(1):40. doi: 10.1007/s13744-025-01259-5.
Facultative bacteria in aphids provide their hosts with various physiological and ecological adaptations, such as resistance to thermal stress, parasitoids and entomopathogenic fungi. Furthermore, these symbionts possess the capacity to modulate the composition of honeydew, a substance that is particularly favored by numerous ant species. That's why we were interested in determining whether the presence of facultative bacteria in myrmecophilic aphids influences their relationship with mutualistic ants. In the vicinity of Antananarivo (Madagascar), the objectives of the study were to (i) determine the diversity of ants, aphids and symbionts and to (ii) assess the impacts of the identified symbiont on behavioural interactions of ants and aphids. We identified a total of four species (Serratia symbiotica, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma, Hamiltonella defensa) of facultative symbionts present in the three ant species (Camponotus maculate, Monomorium madecassum, Nylanderia gracilis) we tested and a total of six facultative symbionts (Serratia symbiotica, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma, Hamiltonella defensa, Regiella insecticola, Rickettsiella) among three of the five aphid species (Aphis citricidus, Aphis fabae, Aphis spiraecola, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Rhopalosiphum maidis) we tested. Although our results did not show the involvement of symbionts on ant behaviour or their association with aphids, our study showed that the number of ants increases with the number of interactions, that Nylanderia gracilis are the ants with the most interactions and finally that ants observed on pesticide-treated plots have fewer interactions with aphids.
蚜虫体内的兼性细菌为宿主提供了各种生理和生态适应性，比如对热应激、寄生蜂和昆虫病原真菌的抗性。此外，这些共生体能够调节蜜露的成分，而蜜露是许多蚁种特别喜爱的物质。这就是为什么我们有兴趣确定嗜蚁蚜虫体内兼性细菌的存在是否会影响它们与互利共生蚂蚁的关系。在塔那那利佛（马达加斯加）附近，本研究的目的是：（i）确定蚂蚁、蚜虫和共生体的多样性；（ii）评估已鉴定出的共生体对蚂蚁和蚜虫行为相互作用的影响。我们在测试的三种蚂蚁物种（黄斑弓背蚁、马岛小家蚁、纤细尼氏蚁）中共鉴定出四种兼性共生体（共生沙雷氏菌、立克次氏体、螺原体、防御哈氏菌），在测试的五种蚜虫物种（柑橘蚜、豆蚜、绣线菊蚜、大戟长管蚜、玉米缢管蚜）中的三种中共鉴定出六种兼性共生体（共生沙雷氏菌、立克次氏体、螺原体、防御哈氏菌、昆虫雷吉氏菌、立克次氏体菌）。虽然我们的结果并未显示共生体参与了蚂蚁行为或它们与蚜虫的关联，但我们的研究表明，蚂蚁的数量随着相互作用的次数增加而增多，纤细尼氏蚁是相互作用次数最多的蚂蚁，最后还表明，在经过农药处理的地块上观察到的蚂蚁与蚜虫的相互作用较少。
