A Worker-Like Female of Myrmica sabuleti (Meinert, 1861) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in a Pitfall Trap with Five Mermithids (Nematoda: Mermithidae) Protruding from the Gaster

Authors

  • Florian M. Steiner University of Innsbruck Department of Ecology http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2414-4650
  • Günter Köhler Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
  • Bernhard Seifert Senckenberg Museum of Natural History
  • Wolfgang Arthofer University of Inssbruck
  • Birgit Schlick-Steiner University of Innsbruck
  • Alfred Buschinger

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v66i3.4338

Keywords:

Ant parasite, nematode, gregarious parasitism, 18S, COI, morphometrics

Abstract

A worker-like female of Myrmica sabuleti (Meinert, 1861), pitfall-trapped near Jena, Germany, in late summer 2016, was infested by five postparasitic juvenile mermithids. They poked out of the ant´s gaster as a trail of seven filaments of various lengths. Apart from its swollen gaster, the ant differed from conspecifics in several morphometric parameters. Using both morphological and molecular techniques, the parasite family Mermithidae was confirmed. Our stray find raises multiple questions concerning the genus and species identity of the parasite, its biology, and the infestation rate of the host ant population. More mermithid awareness by the various researchers working with Myrmica will help, but directed fieldwork, experimental life-history research, and molecular studies are needed to emancipate progress in ant-mermithid research from serendipity.

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Published

2019-11-14

How to Cite

Steiner, F. M., Köhler, G., Seifert, B., Arthofer, W., Schlick-Steiner, B., & Buschinger, A. (2019). A Worker-Like Female of Myrmica sabuleti (Meinert, 1861) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in a Pitfall Trap with Five Mermithids (Nematoda: Mermithidae) Protruding from the Gaster. Sociobiology, 66(3), 400–407. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v66i3.4338

Issue

Vol. 66 No. 3 (2019)

Section

Research Article - Ants

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