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      Nematode Parasites and Associates of Ants: Past and Present

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      Journal: Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
      Publisher: Hindawi Limited

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          Abstract

          Ants can serve as developmental, definitive, intermediate, or carrier hosts of a variety of nematodes. Parasitic ant nematodes include members of the families Mermithidae, Tetradonematidae, Allantonematidae, Seuratidae, Physalopteridae, Steinernematidae, and Heterorhabditidae. Those nematodes that are phoretically associated with ants, internally or externally, are represented by the Rhabditidae, Diplogastridae, and Panagrolaimidae. Fossils of mermithids, tetradonematids, allantonematids, and diplogastrids associated with ants show the evolutionary history of these relationships, some of which date back to the Eocene (40 mya).

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          Biology and control of imported fire ants.

          Margaret Glancey, Robert Banks, S. LÖFGREN (1974)
          Article 0 comments Cited 52 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Parasite-induced fruit mimicry in a tropical canopy ant.

            Stephen P Yanoviak, G Poinar, R Adams Dudley … (2008)
            Some parasites modify characteristics of intermediate hosts to facilitate their consumption by subsequent hosts, but examples of parasite-mediated mimicry are rare. Here we report dramatic changes in the appearance and behavior of nematode-parasitized ants such that they resemble ripe fruits in the tropical rain forest canopy. Unlike healthy ants, which are completely black, infected ants have bright red, berry-like gasters full of parasite eggs. The infected gasters are held in a conspicuous elevated position as the ants are walking, and they are easily detached from living ants, which also exhibit reduced defensive responses. This combination of changes presumably makes the infected ants attractive to frugivorous birds, which ingest the red gasters and pass the parasite eggs in their feces. The feces are collected by ants and fed to the developing brood, thus completing the cycle. This is the first documentation of parasites causing apparent fruit mimicry in an animal host to complete their life cycle.
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              Allomermis solenopsi n. sp. (Nematoda: Mermithidae) parasitising the fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Argentina.

              Forbes D Porter, Sha Tang, George O Poinar … (2007)
              Allomermis solenopsi n. sp. (Mermithidae: Nematoda) is described from the fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Argentina. Diagnostic characters of the new species include stiff and erect processes on the surface of the mature egg, small female amphids, extension of the latero-medial rows of male genital papillae beyond the middle rows, an obliquely truncate spicule tip and a ventrally swollen male terminus. This is the first record of Allomermis Steiner, 1924 from South America and the first host record for members of this genus. Previous records of mermithids from Solenopsis spp. are summarised. The placement in Allomermis was confirmed by molecular analyses based on nuclear 18S ribosomal DNA sequences, the first such molecular framework for the Mermithidae. The possible life-cycle of the parasite is discussed, with the aim of using A. solenopsi as a biological control agent for fire ants in the United States.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Title: Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
                Abbreviated Title: Psyche: A Journal of Entomology
                Publisher: Hindawi Limited
                ISSN (Print): 0033-2615
                ISSN (Electronic): 1687-7438
                Publication date Created: 2012
                Publication date (Print): 2012
                Volume: 2012
                Issue:
                Pages: 1-13
                Article
                DOI: 10.1155/2012/192017
                SO-VID: 50ba9d12-3a45-4d69-8247-18bfc4db0663
                Copyright © © 2012
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                http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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