Bajerlein Daria, Zduniak Piotr, Wyszyńska Aleksandra, Baraniak Edward, Przewoźny Marek, Grzegorczyk Tomasz, Urbański Arkadiusz
Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, Poznań, 61-614, Poland.
Department of Avian Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, Poznań, 61-614, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jun 5;15(1):19823. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-04685-y.
Phoretic dispersal is critical in low-mobile invertebrates because it enables feeding, breeding, and gene flow. Phoresy may have serious evolutionary consequences for species in highly specific interactions. Mites within the Uroobovella nova species complex have a narrow range of carriers limited to burying beetles. Nicrophorus vespilloides, a model organism used in behavioural studies, is a common carrier of U. nova, but this interaction remains underexplored. This study investigated how carrier sex, body size, season, and year affect the relationship between U. nova and N. vespilloides. We tested the hypotheses that mite infestation is sex-biased because of differences in parental care between females and males and that larger individuals carry more mites. Mite prevalence was affected only by season. A slightly higher mite load was found in females than in males, and mites showed a significant but weak preference for beetle body size. Considerable temporal differences in mite load were found. Deutonymphs were highly specific when selecting attachment sites, irrespective of the carrier sex, and appeared on some body parts when the preferred sites had already been infested. The low specificity of U. nova towards N. vespilloides individuals and the high selectivity of attachment sites seem to increase the probability of colonising beetle brood chambers.
携带传播在移动性较低的无脊椎动物中至关重要，因为它有助于觅食、繁殖和基因流动。携带传播可能会对处于高度特异性相互作用中的物种产生严重的进化影响。新星尾螨属物种复合体中的螨虫携带者范围狭窄，仅限于埋葬甲虫。葬甲是行为研究中使用的一种模式生物，是新星尾螨的常见携带者，但这种相互作用仍未得到充分研究。本研究调查了携带者的性别、体型、季节和年份如何影响新星尾螨与葬甲之间的关系。我们检验了以下假设：由于雌雄亲代抚育方式的差异，螨虫感染存在性别偏见，且体型较大的个体携带的螨虫更多。螨虫感染率仅受季节影响。发现雌性葬甲携带的螨虫数量略高于雄性，并且螨虫对甲虫体型表现出显著但较弱的偏好。在螨虫携带数量上发现了相当大的时间差异。若螨在选择附着部位时具有高度特异性，与携带者性别无关，并且当首选部位已经被感染时，它们会出现在一些身体部位上。新星尾螨对葬甲个体的低特异性以及附着部位的高选择性似乎增加了其在甲虫育幼室定殖的概率。
