ants as a diet for the life cycle of the terrestrial firefly...
TRANSCRIPT
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Ants as a Diet for the Life Cycle of the
Terrestrial Firefly Luciola cereta
Jen-Zon Ho, Hua-Te Fang, Jing-Han Hu, Ping-Shih Yang
Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, C.O.A.
University of Florida Gainesville,
FL, USA. Hilton University of Florida
Conference Center Date:2014.08.13
The International Firefly Symposium 2014
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black winged firefly
Endemic species and widely distributed.
They are probably the most important and well
known species observed for their flashing
behavior by the general public in the field.
The flashes of interactions were recorded and
analyzed. Male flashes interval was 0.6~0.8s,
flashes lasting about 0.24s, female flashes being
blinking light and its flash communication
system was classifying as HP system (Ohba and
Yang, 2003).
Males with a pentagonal segment have a faster
flashing rate than those with a semi-oval
segment and are considered more attractive to
females in groups with male-biased sex ratios
(Wu et al., 2010).
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Distribution Horizontal distribution except
south-eastern Taiwan.
Habitats included betel palm
orchard, bamboo, grass land, citrus
orchard, and low altitude
mountains.
富源
恆春
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Firefly festivals were held from 1987 in Ali Mt. annually.
Better income of home stay was increased due to firefly watching activities in spring.
Local community people joint the firefly protections and habitat management.
To create sustainable relationship between ecology , sociality, and economics in harmony.
Firefly Festivals
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Larval habitats and observation
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Firefly larvae are carnivorous
Some aquatic species feed on water snails in Asia (Ohba,
1973; 1977; Ho, 2010; Fu, 2006).
Terrestrial species feed on snails and slugs to complete their
life cycle include Pyrocoelia praetexta, P. analis, and P.
pectoralis in Asia (Ho, 1998; Ho & Huang, 2003; Ho et al.,
2003; Wang et al., 2007); Lampyris noctiluca in Britain
(Tyler, 1997; 2002); and Pyractomena lucifera and Photuris
spp. in America (Buschman, 1984; 1987).
Obligate earthworm predators such as Phosphaenus
hemipterus had been described (Majka and MacIvor, 2009)
Fu and Ballantyne (2008) had described how Pygoluciola
qingyu larvae attacked and ate ants in the field, but whether
ants are necessary for completion of this life cycle is
unknown.
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Rhgophthalmus beigansis Luciola ficta
Diaphanes citrinus Pyrocoelia praetexta
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Larval illumination of L. cerata
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Materials and Methods
Tests of larval foraging preference
External morphology
Life cycle
- Egg collection
- Larval breeding
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Tests of larval foraging preference
Test of larval foraging preference was conducted and results
show nine preys are acceptable.
Larvae are carnivous and polytrophic.
陸生渦蟲
1. Terrestrial snail 2. Slug 3. Water snail 4. Pill woodlouse 5. Long-legged ant
6. Lift tail ant 7. Termite 8. Earthworm 9. Millipede 10. Terrestrial planarians
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Adult morphology
Male Female 3 mm
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Mandible
Antenna
Head
Fore leg
Pronotum
Mid leg
Hind leg
Mesonotum
Postnotum
Abdomen
Spiracle
Dorsal
spine
Later
spine
Dorsal ridge
Larval Morphology
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Larval breeding and Ants as a diet
Crematogaster spp.
Completed whole
generation successfully
Figure Two stage breeding of
larvae L. cerata. A: First stage for
the young larvae; B: Second stage
for mature larvae. Shape of mud
cocoon with lid and open without
soil . The open container will later
be sealed with soil and a small
hole will be provided for ventilation.
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Reared conditions and results
All were kept at room temperature 18-30℃, RH = 80± 5%, and photoperiod L: D = 10:14.
97 replications were conducted and reared by “terrestrial Luciola larval breeding method”
individually.
After the experiment, emergence rate of 59.79 % (n = 58) was calculated. All paired females in container collected and let them ovipositor.
Regeneration breeding will be possibly in our work.
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Developmental durations
Sex (n)
Developmental duration (mean ± SD) (day)
Egg Larva Making
cocoon Prepupa Pupa Adult Generation
Female 32 16.0±0.0 334.2±17.8 1.3±0.8 5.3±1.9 7.0±1.7 12.7±4.0 376.4±16.3
Male 26 16.0±0.0 314.1±16.0 1.2±0.4 5.8±1.6 7.7±1.9 15.0±1.8 359.8±12.0
Both 58 16.0±0.0 325.2±19.7 1.3±0.7 5.5±1.7 7.3±1.8 13.7±4.5 369.0±16.7
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The ratio of each life stage
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Instar variations sexually
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Life cycle of Luciola cerata
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Parasites
Flour mite (Acaridae)
Entomopathogenic fungi (Metarhizium anisopliae)
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Discussion
Self-designed rearing apparatus for the terrestrial
firefly, L. cerata using the frozen lift tail ants
(Crematogaster spp.) could complete whole life
cycle and an univoltine.
Ants are abundant and take important roles as
primary consumers and decomposers in ecosystem.
L. cerata larvae select survival strategies and
consider the nutritional preys, and high population
and density. Better strategies are more able to
ensure its survival advantage in ecosystem.
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Discussion
Ants provided better nutrition for L. cerata larva development. They have been estimated that 10% of the animal biomass of the earth is comprised. Not only are they abundant, but they are also quite diverse. Ants have far more abundant of protein than chicken, fish, beef, and 100 g dry weight of ants product 650 calories which contain rich amino acids, minerals, selenium, and zinc (Rastogi, 2011; Redford and Dorea, 1984).
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Formosa pangolin
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Pygoluciola qingyu
Luciola praeusta
Luciola terminalis Luciola anceyi
Luciola cerata
Specialized myrmecophages
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Thank you
for listening
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Mr. Kuo-Yun Fang , the director of ESRI for encouragement. We also thank the assistance of Mrs. Shu-Lin Chang (ESRI) and Mrs. Na-Hua Tsai (ESRI) in field collection, laboratory breeding work and diet collection.
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Applications of Individual breeding
Basic model for science study
Create the chance for mass production
Habitat restoration
Environmental education
(Tsai, 2012)
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黑翅螢 –嘉義若蘭山莊
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黑翅螢 – 嘉義圓潭生態園區
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黑翅螢 & 紅胸黑翅螢 – 嘉義山美村
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黑翅螢 – 嘉義里佳藍色部落
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黑翅螢 – 阿里山公興村
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黑翅螢 – 台南梅嶺
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黑翅螢 – 台北翡翠水庫
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黑翅螢 & 脈翅螢 – 南投圳頭湖
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The flashes of interactions were recorded and analyzed.
Male flashes interval was 0.6~0.8s, flashes lasting about
0.24s, female flashes being blinking light and its flash
communication system was classifying as HP system
(Ohba and Yang, 2003).
Males with a pentagonal segment have a faster flashing
rate than those with a semi-oval segment and are
considered more attractive to females in groups with
male-biased sex ratios (Wu et al., 2010).
Literature review of L. cerata
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Nature enemy
Opiliones 盲蛛 Spider 蜘蛛
Bipalium 渦蟲 Stink bug 椿象