Hymenoptera Flashcards
explain the hymenoptera order
- sawflies, parasitoid wasps, stinging wasps, bees, and ants
- Name means ‘joined wing’
explain the ecological importance of hymenoptera
- The parasitoids, predatory wasps, and ants are each huge forces regulating the populations of other arthropods
- Bees are the major pollinators of both natural and agricultural flowering plants
explain the economic importance of hymenoptera
- use parasitoids, predatory wasps, and ants as pest control to regulate arthropod populations
- managed pollination is used in agriculture
explain the evolutionary transitions in the hymenoptera
- ovipositor and herbivory -> wasp waist and parasitoidism -> hunting, sting and nest building -> pollination.
- Nest enables sociality -> once social, can evolve larger colony sizes and complexity
what are the three suborders of hymenoptera
- Symphata
- Parasitica
- Aculeata
suborders of hymenoptera - symphata
- Sawflies
- they are herbivores
suborders of hymenoptera - parasitica
Parasitoids
suborders of hymenoptera - aculeata
- Stinging Hymenoptera
- Mostly predators, but not all
explain the symphata suborder
- Herbivores
- Ancestral hymenoptera group
- No ‘wasp (skinny) waist’
- Oviposit into plant with ‘saw’ ovipositor
- Caterpillar-like larvae
explain the hypothesis for the evolutionary transition: ovipositor -> parasitoidism
parasitoids was a short step to bypass the burrow and just oviposit into prey
explain the Parasitica suborder
evolution of wasp waist and the parasitoid niche
parasitica - define parasitoid
consume/kill host from within
parasitica - what has to change from a symphata (sawflies) to parasiticas (parasitoids)
- foraging targets
- morphology/behavior
- ecological interactions
parasitica: what has to change from a symphata (sawflies) - foraging targets
Searching for insect prey not plants
parasitica: what has to change from a symphata (sawflies) - morphology/behavior
- Instead of having a plant, you have things that can run away.
- Narrow waist allows easier attacks if the prey runs away
- ovipositor is used to drill into hosts not plants
parasitica: what has to change from a symphata (sawflies) - ecological interactions
moved up a trophic level, to where predators are
parasitica: shift to parasitoidism
- Hugely successful shift
- Vast diversity
- Most species have hymenopteran parasitoids
- Ecologically important for population control, pests in agriculture
explain the Aculeata suborder
- Ovipositor is now a sting that injects venom instead of eggs
- No male has a stinger (only females)
aculeata - problems
- Parasitoids limited by size of host
- Have to keep hosts alive throughout parasitoid development
aculeata - solutions
Sting prey to paralyze it
aculeata - what has to change from a parasitoid in order for the prey to be stung
- Morphology, behavior, etc.
- Sensory and ecological adaptations/implications
aculeata: what has to change - morphology/behavior
- evolution of nest building
- once paralyzed, take prey to safe place (dig a hole in the ground – their nest) and oviposit on or next to prey
- Build nest to protect prey so resource is monopolized by offspring alone
aculeata: what has to change - sensory and ecological adaptatins/implications
- Evolve the ability to move around
- Later evolves into social groups
aculeata - What relationships are present between hunting wasps and prey body size
- Multiple prey – size does not matter between prey and wasp
- Single prey – size and wasp size are similar
explain the Bees
- Evolved from within the hunting wasps
- Provision young with pollen and nectar (rather than prey)
- Diverse
- Most important pollinators in natural and agricultural systems
- Evolution of social behavior but vast majority are solitary
- Sting for self (and nest) defense – no hunting
the bees - do you think that bees evolved from hunters that provisioned their young with single, large prey. Or multiple small prey?
More likely evolved from hunters that provisioned their young with many small prey
explain bees and pollination
- All bees exploit pollen for food; not all are pollinators
- Broad coevolution between plants and bees: flowers signal reward, bees seek them out
bees and pollination - how do plants and bees see pollen
- Bee’s perspective: food, protein source
- Plants perspective: way to package sperm
bees and pollination - how do plants and bees see nectar
- Bee’s perspective: food, carb source
- Plant’s perspective: way to lure bees (or other animals) to the pollen
bees and pollination - how do plants and bees see a bee
- Bee’s perspective: N/A
- Plant’s perspective: more efficient way than wind to get genes to another flower
bees and pollination - how do plants and bees see a flower
- Bee’s perspective: place to find food
- Plant’s perspective: signal to attract animals to pollen
what is managed pollination
- bees being developed for agriculture: e.g., mason bees (Osmia sp.)
- Solitary, so cant be raised in such numbers
- But each individual is much more efficient than a honeybee
- Managing pollinators becomes easier when its small and a variety of crops
misconceptions about bees
- all bees live in a hive
- There’s a queen bee and worker bee
- Bees die when they sting you
- Bees make honey
misconceptions about bees - all bees live in a hive
- No, most bees are solitary and dig nests into the ground or a cavity
- bees take the honey back to the nest (usually tunnel in ground, or stick, or in cavity) and put it in individual cell, lay egg on the cell, repeat
misconceptions about bees - there’s a queen and a worker bee
- Not usually
- Most bees are single moms
- Mom’s lay eggs, gives them food, then leave
misconceptions about bees - bees die when they sting you
- No, only honeybees do this
- honeybees die bc their barbed stinger remains in the skin, pulling her guts out
- Wasps, ants, and other bees can sting over and over
- some bees and ants don’t sting at all
misconceptions about bees - bees make honey
Only Apis honeybees and stingless bees make honey
explain parasitism of stored resources in the hymenoptera order
- nesting opens up new opportunity for those that can access nests
- Many Hymenoptera have evolved brood-parasitism on other Hymenoptera hosts (a few flies and beetles have evolved this too)
parasitism of stored resources - explain relatedness and parasitism
- Many members of ‘honest’ groups (both solitary and social) evolved into parasites
- So, a bee or wasp may parasitize closely related nest-building species in addition to species from parasitic families
