Soil Ecology Wiki - User contributions [en]

Red Salamander

2025-05-08T02:59:35Z

Jplamacc:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin-left: 10px;
|+ !colspan="2" style="min-width:12em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(240,150,110)|'''Scientific Classification'''<ref name="NatureServe">Pseudotriton ruber | NatureServe Explorer. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101775/Pseudotriton_ruber</ref> <ref name="ADW">Miller, R. (n.d.). Pseudotriton ruber (Red Salamander). Animal [[Diversity]] Web. Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pseudotriton_ruber/</ref> <ref name="Red Salamander Photo 1">Todd Pierson. Red Salamander. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://herpsofnc.org/red-salamander/</ref>
|colspan="2" |[[File:Red Salamander Cover Pic.jpg|451px|right|Caption]]
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Kingdom:
|style="min-width:6em; |[[Animals|Animalia]]
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Phylum:
|style="min-width:6em; |Craniata
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Subphylum:
|style="min-width:6em; |Vertebrata
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Superclass:
|style="min-width:6em; |Gnathostomata
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Class:
|style="min-width:6em; |Amphibia
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Subclass:
|style="min-width:6em; |Lissamphibia
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Order:
|style="min-width:6em; |Caudata
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Family:
|style="min-width:6em; |Plethodontidae
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Genus:
|style="min-width:6em; |Pseudotriton
|}

Psuedotriton ruber, more commonly known as the Red Salamander, are larger amphibians belonging to the Plethodontidae family. In latin, ruber means "red" and in greek psuedotriton means "false god" in reference to Triton, the son of Posidon. Others say that this could also mean "false newt" <ref name="AmphibiaWeb">AmphibiaWeb—Pseudotriton ruber. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://amphibiaweb.org/species/4198</ref> <ref name="VHS">Virginia Herpetological Society. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com</ref>. These are amphibians who have a redish orangish skin pigmentation with black spots along the back and chin, a yellow iris, and a rather shorter tail. <ref name="DWR">Red Salamander. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/northern-red-salamander/</ref>. The size of Red [[Salamanders]] can very between 11 to 18 cm, or 4.33 to 7.09 in, with females tending to be slightly larger and all contain 16 grooves along their body. As they age, it has been shown that adults tend to turn a purplish brown, loosing their vibrant colors over time <ref name="Wildlife Resources Agency">Red Salamander | State of Tennessee, Wildlife Resources Agency. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/amphibians/salamanders/red-salamander.html</ref>. There are 4 infraspecies within this species (Pseudotriton ruber nitidus, Pseudotriton ruber ruber, Pseudotriton ruber schencki, and Pseudotriton ruber vioscai), and they often get mistaken for Mud Salamanders. Their yellow iris is what separates them from the Mud Salamander species, who has a brown iris <ref name="NatureServe"></ref>.

== Ecology ==
Red Salamanders are found in colder springs, seepages, and springs in forested riparian corridors, but can also live away from aquatic environments in more woody environments. <ref name="Indiana">Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber)—Indiana Herp Atlas. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://www.inherpatlas.org/species/pseudotriton_ruber</ref>. Some terrestrial habitats include under rocks, logs, or [[moss]] within woodland ravines or open fields <ref name="Wildlife Resources Agency"></ref>. The Red Salamander resides between altitudes of sea level and 1500 meters. The most common habitat for these amphibians is within deeper springs because of the more consistent temperature throughout the year, especially in colder months. When it gets warmer such as spring and summer, we can see the salamanders begin to emerge from these water bodies and take on the more terrestrial habitats previously discussed <ref name="ADW"></ref>. The scope of their habitat is quite wide, found mostly with the Eastern United States. They are found as far north as New York within the Hudson River all the way to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, and everything in between <ref name="Monaco">Mazza, G. (2011, January 28). Pseudotriton ruber. Monaco Nature Encyclopedia. https://www.monaconatureencyclopedia.com/pseudotriton-ruber/?lang=en</ref>.

[[File:Red Salamander Eggs.jpg|501px|left|thumb|Red Salamander Laying Eggs <ref name="Monaco"></ref>]]

== Reproduction and Life Cycle ==
Mating season for the Red Salamander occurs annually, usually in the summer, but can vary depending on the geographic location <ref name="AmphibiaWeb"></ref><ref name="Indiana"></ref>. Courtship, which is the behaviors that [[animals]] use to attract a potential mate, can happen with multiple partners for both the male and female sexes <ref name = "ADW"></ref>. It is initiated by the male with help from his hedonic gland (located at the tip of the chin and releases a sexual stimulant) and the courtship contains some head rubbing between the salamanders and a tail-straddling walk. The male secretes a spermatophore for the female that can be later used for fertilization (max production of 2 per night), but the female must pick up the sperm packet so the male must continue to perform a dance and gesture towards the packet. If and after the female collects the packet, the two separate slowly after <ref name="AmphibiaWeb"></ref><ref name="ADW"></ref>.
 
After pickup, the female is able to store the spermatophore for quite a long time until she believes that the conditions are right for laying her eggs. Eggs are laid in the fall and early winter and the amount of eggs laid can range between 29-130 eggs, averaging 80 per batch <ref name="Monaco"></ref>. The batches are attached beneath rocks and logs, or within caves, with the help of water. The female then broods the eggs for 2-3 months until they are ready to hatch <ref name="ADW"></ref><ref name="AmphibiaWeb"></ref>. Once hatched, the larvae become independent, contain external gills and persist within the larval stage for 1.5 to 3.5 years. They metamorphosize between the spring and autumn seasons of their third year and then persist in their "juvenile terrestrial" stage for about one year for males and two years for females. This means males reach the adult stage around 4 years old and females around 5 years old <ref name="Monaco"></ref><ref name="ADW"></ref>.
 
An interesting behavior that has been observed within the males is their lack of aggression to one another. On the contrary, they try to sabotage the reproductive success of their male counterparts to improve their chances of reproducing. Males have been found to participate in courtship rituals with one another, trying to get the other male to produce a spermatophore. Being that Red Salamanders can only produce up to 2 sperm packets per day, this significantly cuts down the reproductive competition within the area. It has not been observed as a mistaking of the other's sex, neither is it deemed to be acts of homosexuality; it is simply a method of "sexual interference" to try an maximize ones own reproductive success <ref name="ADW"></ref><ref name="Monaco"></ref>.

[[File:Red Salamander Habitat.jpg|451px|right|thumb|The habitat of each of the 4 Red Salamander species <ref name="Habitat">Folt, B., Garrison, N., Guyer, C., Rodriguez, J., & Bond, J. E. (2016). Phylogeography and evolution of the Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 98, 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.01.016</ref>]]
== Diet and Feeding Behaviors ==
The diet of the red salamander consists of many smaller [[invertebrates]], both terrestrial and aquatic <ref name="NorthCarolina">Red Salamander. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://herpsofnc.org/red-salamander/</ref>. They follow a generalist diet, and can consume [[organisms]] such as snails, spiders, [[insects]], and even other salamanders if the conditions are right <ref name="Monaco"></ref>. They feed during the night and utilize their tongue to capture prey quickly and efficiently. Similar to frogs, they protract their tongues with incredible speed until the tip of their tongue sticks to the prey. Once caught, the salamander retracts its tongue to quickly consume the organism. For larger prey, they may also lunge at the prey to disable them while the salamander feeds. Younger larvae have a slightly smaller pallette, consisting of primarily aquatic species like flies, salamander larvae, and crustaceans <ref name="ADW"></ref>. The predators of the Red Salamander include snakes, birds, skunks, shrews, and racoons <ref name="AmphibiaWeb"></ref>.

== Defense Mechanisms ==
The three primary defense mechanisms the Red Salamander utilizes is color, behavior, and poison. As you can see the Red Salamander is bright red, participating in aposematic coloration. The Eastern Newt is an organism who is deemed highly toxic to predators, so being that the Red Salamander is of a similar color scheme, predators tend to stay away from the species <ref name="DWR"></ref><ref name="Wildlife Resources Agency"></ref>. If the color does not turn predators away, the next line of defense is the physical behaviors of the Red Salamander. It has been shown that the Red Salamander may mimic the behaviors of the Eastern Newt as well, curling up its body, elevating its rear legs and tail, tucking its head underneath its tail, and swaying its tail back and forth <ref name="ADW"></ref><ref name="Monaco"></ref>. The last mechanism that the Red Salamander uses to avoid predation is through its production of the toxic substance found on its outside layer. Pseudotritontoxin is the chemical found on Red Salamanders and is comparable to tetrodotoxin which is found in species like the Eastern Newt. When exposed to mice, pseudotritontoxin can cause "hyperextension of hind legs and lower back, extreme irritability, severe hypothermia, quiescence, prolonged debility, coma," and in extreme cases death. The concentration of this chemical is most common in the back of the Red Salamander <ref name="Toxicity">Brandon, R. A., & Huheey, J. E. (1981). Toxicity in the plethodontid salamanders Pseudotriton ruber and Pseudotriton montanus (Amphibia, Caudata). Toxicon, 19(1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/0041-0101(81)90114-8</ref>. The Red Salamander is non lethal and unless eaten, should not cause any significant adverse health impacts <ref name="Indiana"></ref>.

== References ==

2025-04-02T03:40:03Z

Jplamacc: Jplamacc uploaded a new version of File:Cricket Infected By EPF.jpg

2025-04-01T12:46:31Z

Jplamacc:

Entomopathogenic fungi

2025-04-01T12:09:32Z

Jplamacc: Created page with "''Figure 1: The EMF Cycle.'' Entomopathogenic Fungi are parasitic microorganisms that infect insect hosts in many different ecosystems. They serve as a means to control insect populations and in doing so, prevents the overgrowth of insect organisms in soil environments and enhanced biodiversity. When infected, the insects eventually die off promoting the growth of soil microorganisms. They are then an energy source for microorganis..."

File:EMF Life Cycle.png

2025-04-01T12:08:26Z

Jplamacc: Jplamacc uploaded a new version of File:EMF Life Cycle.png

== Summary ==
Displays a simple life cycle for the impact of entomopathogenic fungi on insect hosts.

File:EMF Life Cycle.png

2025-04-01T11:52:30Z

Jplamacc: Displays a simple life cycle for the impact of entomopathogenic fungi on insect hosts.

== Summary ==
Displays a simple life cycle for the impact of entomopathogenic fungi on insect hosts.

Hymenoptera

2025-03-12T17:23:24Z

Jplamacc:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin-left: 10px;
|+ !colspan="2" style="min-width:12em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)|'''Taxonomic Classification'''
|-
|colspan="2" |[[File:Hymenoptera.jpg|400px|caption]]
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Domain:
|style="min-width:6em; |Eukarya
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Kingdom:
|style="min-width:6em; |Animalia
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Phylum:
|style="min-width:6em; |Arthropoda
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Class:
|style="min-width:6em; |Insecta
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Superorder:
|style="min-width:6em; |Hymenopterida
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Order:
|style="min-width:6em; |Hymenoptera
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Suborder:
|style="min-width:6em; |Apocrita - Ants, Bees, Wasps
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Suborder:
|style="min-width:6em; |Symphyta - Sawflies, some wasps
|-
|}

== Definition ==

The Hymenoptera is a large order of [[organisms]] within the phylum [[Arthropoda]], which contains [[insects]] like, bees, wasps, sawflies, and ants. The name is derived from the greek words "Hymen" or "membrane" and "Ptera" or "wings", which is perfectly describing the fact that their wings are connected into one point called the "Hamuli", and the membraneous tissue it is formed. Like most insects, these appeared at an early stage of earth's history, which according to a study done by D.A. Grimaldi, M.S. Engel et al [11], have been around since 281 million years ago (Triassic Period).
The Hymenopteran who have evolved into a societal way of living(Cretaceous Period), similar to pre-historical humans, created a very well adapted form of resilience for the succession of its offspring. However, many different species still live solitarily, requiring others only for mating. The organisms, who have a social life, live in a nest (ants) or a hive (bees, wasps), which are all descendants of one queen. When the hive or nest is established by a queen in early spring, it begins producing its offspring that will work in their pre-assigned roles, depending on their gender. 

[[File:Bee-anatomy-worker.jpeg|200px|thumb|left|Bee's anatomy]]
[[File:ANATOMY-OF-A-WASP-min.png|200px|left|thumb|Wasp's anatomy]]
== Anatomy ==

The anatomy of hymenopterans are very similar to other insects. The ones who fly, usually have two pairs of wings. Their mouths can have two forms, just mandibles used for chewing, or with the addition of the proboscis used for drinking liquids, such as nectar. They have two larger compound eyes, used to differentiate brightness and color, and also three smaller eyes called "ocelli" that are much simpler. Flying insects have their hind wings with hooked bristles called "hamuli" that holds both the fore wings and hind wings together. The number of hamuli vary between species and their sizes, with wasps having more than the usual two to three hamuli present in smaller species. Like most insects, their bodies are divided into three sections, head, thorax and abdomen.

The hymenoptera have an ovipositor, that in older species evolved into a blade-like structure used for slicing plant tissues. However, many today use them for piercing. In some species, we see today an ovipositor that evolved into a stinger in which the tip is used to inject venom and their eggs are laid from the base of the structure. The stinger is usually used to immobilize prey, that could be used to insert their eggs inside, but we see many bees and wasps using for self defense.

The larvae of the hymenoptera have a head region, three thoracic segments, and nine or ten abdominal segments. The hymenoptera, is further divided into the Symphyta and Apocrita. The former includes sawflies, whose larvae feed on leaves, have large mandibles for chewing; six thoracic limbs, and six to eight abdominal prolegs. However, their prolegs do not have spines, and their antennae are reduced to just stubs. Furthermore, the larvae that lives on wood or stem borers have no abdominal prolegs and the thoracic legs are smaller than the non-borers.

The Apocrita, whose species are wasps and bees, however, cannot live freely. The lack of legs, and their shape resembling a maggot, requires them to be taken care either by the solitary wasp who laid them, or by the workers and queen in a beehive. If the larvae was laid by a wasp, it will most likely be living inside of the immobilized insect it captured, where the offspring can feed off of the prey. The larvae laid in the insect have some morphological differences, the head is reduced into the prothorax, the compound eyes are poorly developed, with no ocelli; very small or absent antennae and toothlike mandibles. It also lacks the ability to defecate, since their digestive system is not completed, to avoid contamination in the environment they live. The larvae that has a stinger, generally has ten spiracles, for breathing, while the parasitic form usually has nine. 

== Reproduction ==
'''Haplodiploid sex-determination system'''
In the order Hymenoptera, reproduction uses the Haplodiploid sex-determination system, in which the number of chromosomes determines their gender. If the eggs are fertilized by both parent's gametes, the individual is diploid and develops into a female. [[File:1920px-Haplodiploid Sex Determination in Honey Bees.svg.png|200px|thumb|right|Haplodiploid system diagram]] However, if the egg is not fertilized by two sets of gametes, the zygote is haploid, and develops into a male. The important factor in this system is that the female is under total control of which gender her offspring will be, depending on what the nest or hive needs in the moment.

Although this system seems very simple to understand, it actually is much more complex than only the number of chromosomes present. In many hymenopterans, the gender is determined in a single gene locus with many alleles. In these organisms, males are haploid and females are diploid heterozygous at the sex locus. However, a diploid organism could be homozygous which develops into a male. This is more likely to happen when we have parents who were siblings reproducing. Diploid males are known for being produced by inbreeding, in many ant, bee, and wasp species. These males organisms, usually are infertile but you can find some species with fertile diploid males.

A problem that appears due to this reproduction system is that females on average have more genes in common with their sisters than with their daughters. Therefore, cooperation among kindred females may be unusually advantageous, which contributed to the multiple origins of eusociality within this order. In many colonies, we see the removal of eggs laid by other workers due to the increase in relatedness to direct siblings, a behavior called worker policing.

'''Thelytoky''' [[File:Central fusion and terminal fusion automixis.svg.png|200px|thumb|right|Thelitoky Diagram]]

Some hymenopterans also use a type of parthenogenesis, which is the production of an embryo without fertilization, to produce other females. Through the process of thelytoky, a female is produced from the fusion of two haploid proto-eggs in the same meiosis, producing a diploid zygote. This method of reproduction tends to maintain heterozygosity of the genome of the mother to the daughter. Many ant species use this method, some of them are: desert ant ''Cataglyphis cursor'', the clonal raider ant ''Cerapachys biroi'', the predaceous ant ''Platythyrea punctata'', and the electric ant (little fire ant) ''Wasmannia auropunctata''. It also occurs in the Cape honey bee ''Apis mellifera capensis''.

== Major Families ==

According to the NCSU Department of Entomology [4]

'''Sawflies''': Larvae feed on leaves, or burrow into plant tissues

1)''Diprionidae'': Conifer sawflies

2)''Tenthredinidae'': Common sawflies

3)''Cephidae'': Stem sawflies

'''Horntails''': Larvae are wood borers

1)''Siricidae'': Wood or Horntail wasp

'''Parasitic Wasps''': Larvae are parasitoid of other insects

1)''Ichneumonidae'': Largest family, parasitoids of spiders

2)''Braconidae'': mostly parasitoid of ''lepidopterous'' larvae

3)''Encyrtidae'': mostly parasitoid of ''aphids'' and scale insects

4)''Eulophidae'': parasitoid of beetles, moths, and other insects

5)''Trichogrammatidae'': egg parasites

'''Gall Wasps''': Larvae are herbivores which induce the formation of plant galls and live in or on these tissues

1)''Cynipidae'': most species live on oak trees

'''Predatory Wasps''': Adults provision nest sites with prey that they catch and paralyze by stinging

1)''Sphecidae'': prey on caterpillars and spiders

2)''Pompilidae'': prey on spiders

3)''Tiphiidae'': prey on beetle larvae

4)''Scoliidae'': prey on beetle larvae

5)''Vespidae'': prey on caterpillars

'''Social Wasps''': The nests are tended by sterile female workers

1)''Vespidae'': yellowjackets, hornets, paper wasps

'''Ants''': True social insects. Wingless workers forage for resources

1)''[[Formicidae]]'': Ants

'''Solitary Bees''': Adults build their individual nests and provision them with plant material (nectar or pollen)

1)''Halictidae'': Sweat bees

2)''Megachilidae'': Leafcutting bees

3)''Anthophoridae'': Carpenter bees

'''Social Bees''': True social insects. Communities are found in nests in the [[soil]] (Bumble Bees) or in cavities (Honey Bees). Sterile female workers forage for resources such as nectar or pollen

1)''Apidae'': Bumble bees and Honey bees

== Ecology ==

'''Eusociality''':[[File:Melissodes desponsa, f, face, Maine, Du Clos 2015-12-01-17.37 (24469964305).jpg|200px|thumb|right|Melissodes desponsa bee body covered in pollen]]

According to C.J.A. Bradshaw, C.R. McMahon [1], is an advanced social system where colonies of organisms are created for the succession of its offspring. This system exists when the adults belong to two or more overlapping generations, they take care cooperatively for the offspring, and are divided into reproductive and non-reproductive castes. This division of labor means that some females give up the ability to have offspring to facilitate reproduction by other individuals in the same colony.

According to Norman F. Johnson [9], the beginning of such society is after a virgin queen from a colony mates with one or several males. Then, the queen builds her nest, which could be in the soil, a natural cavity, or out in the open. The colony founding can be sometimes cooperative, and determining which individual will become the primary reproducer is established through behavioral interactions among the founders. Males are only needed for insemination of the new queens, which soon after will die. The eggs produced by the new queen, will develop into the first female worker generation, which usually cannot reproduce. These workers have many functions, they take care of the offspring, forage for resources, defend the nest and the queen. These functions are sometimes divided by workers, and sometimes by morphological differences in their bodies. Once well established, more males and females are produced to continue the growth of the colony.

'''Pollination''':[[File:Pollen grains observed in aeroplankton of South Europe.png|200px|thumb|right|Pollen Particles]][[File:European honey bee extracts nectar.jpg|200px|thumb|right|European honey bee drinking nectar of a flower]]

Pollination is the transfer of pollen, which can be via wind, water, insects, from the male structure (Anthers) of a flower to the female structure (Stigma) of either the same flower (Monoecious) or another (Dioecious) of the same species. This phenomena is what makes hymenopterans so important for the ecosystem they are present, since most plants rely on them for fertilization. Therefore, plants have evolved a symbiotic relationship with them, in which the plants produce the sweet nectar these insects require in their diet, and the hymenopterans while in search of the nectar carry particles of pollen in their bodies and pollinate other flowers. One of the reasons to why this is very important, is because without the help of pollinators, plants would have an even smaller chance for fertilization, since wind and water are not the best option. 


== References ==

[1]Bradshaw, C. J. A., and C. R. McMahon. 2008. Fecundity. Encyclopedia of [[Ecology]]:1535–1543.

[2]Contributors, W. 2021, April 22. Wasp. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp.

[3]Contributors, W. 2021, March 12. Hymenoptera. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera.

[4]Department of Entomology. 2015. Hymenoptera. NC State [[Agriculture]] and Life Sciences. https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/hymenoptera/.

[5]The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1999. Wasp. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. https://www.britannica.com/animal/wasp.

[6]Greenwood, D. 2019, May 30. Bee Larvae. https://beehivehero.com/bee-larvae/.

[7]Institution Archives, S. (n.d.). Wasps, Ants, and Bees (Hymenoptera). Department of Systematic Biology, Entomology Section, National Museum of Natural History, in cooperation with Public Inquiry Services, Smithsonian Institution. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/hymenoptera.

[8]Jernigan, C. M. 2017, June 13. Bee Anatomy. Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy.

[9]Johnson, N. F. 2001. Hymenoptera. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity:417–426.

[10]Lindauer, M. 1999. Hymenopteran. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. https://www.britannica.com/animal/hymenopteran/Natural-history#ref39798.

[11]Peters, R. S., L. Krogmann, C. Mayer, A. Donath, S. Gunkel, K. Meusemann, A. Kozlov, L. Podsiadlowski, M. Petersen, R. Lanfear, P. A. Diez, J. Heraty, K. M. Kjer, S. Klopfstein, R. Meier, C. Polidori, T. Schmitt, S. Liu, X. Zhou, T. Wappler, J. Rust, B. Misof, and O. Niehuis. 2017. Evolutionary History of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27:1013–1018.

Hymenoptera

2025-03-10T03:18:10Z

Jplamacc: Reorganizing Taxonomic Table - Test 1 | Need to fix image and text wrapping of Description

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin-left: 10px;
|+ !colspan="2" style="min-width:12em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)|'''Taxonomic Classification'''
|-
|colspan="2" |[[File:Hymenoptera.jpg|400px|caption]]
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Domain:
|style="min-width:6em; |Eukarya
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Kingdom:
|style="min-width:6em; |Animalia
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Phylum:
|style="min-width:6em; |Arthropoda
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Class:
|style="min-width:6em; |Insecta
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Superorder:
|style="min-width:6em; |Hymenopterida
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Order:
|style="min-width:6em; |Hymenoptera
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Suborder:
|style="min-width:6em; |Apocrita - Ants, Bees, Wasps
|-
!style="min-width:6em; |Suborder:
|style="min-width:6em; |Symphyta - Sawflies, some wasps
|-
|}

== Definition ==

The Hymenoptera is a large order of [[organisms]] within the phylum [[Arthropoda]], which contains [[insects]] like, bees, wasps, sawflies, and ants. The name is derived from the greek words "Hymen" or "membrane" and "Ptera" or "wings", which is perfectly describing the fact that their wings are connected into one point called the "Hamuli", and the membraneous tissue it is formed. Like most insects, these appeared at an early stage of earth's history, which according to a study done by D.A. Grimaldi, M.S. Engel et al [11], have been around since 281 million years ago (Triassic Period).
The Hymenopteran who have evolved into a societal way of living(Cretaceous Period), similar to pre-historical humans, created a very well adapted form of resilience for the succession of its offspring. However, many different species still live solitarily, requiring others only for mating. The organisms, who have a social life, live in a nest (ants) or a hive (bees, wasps), which are all descendants of one queen. When the hive or nest is established by a queen in early spring, it begins producing its offspring that will work in their pre-assigned roles, depending on their gender. 

== Anatomy ==
[[File:Bee-anatomy-worker.jpeg|200px|thumb|right|Bee's anatomy]]
[[File:ANATOMY-OF-A-WASP-min.png|200px|right|thumb|Wasp's anatomy]]

The anatomy of hymenopterans are very similar to other insects. The ones who fly, usually have two pairs of wings. Their mouths can have two forms, just mandibles used for chewing, or with the addition of the proboscis used for drinking liquids, such as nectar. They have two larger compound eyes, used to differentiate brightness and color, and also three smaller eyes called "ocelli" that are much simpler. Flying insects have their hind wings with hooked bristles called "hamuli" that holds both the fore wings and hind wings together. The number of hamuli vary between species and their sizes, with wasps having more than the usual two to three hamuli present in smaller species. Like most insects, their bodies are divided into three sections, head, thorax and abdomen.

The hymenoptera have an ovipositor, that in older species evolved into a blade-like structure used for slicing plant tissues. However, many today use them for piercing. In some species, we see today an ovipositor that evolved into a stinger in which the tip is used to inject venom and their eggs are laid from the base of the structure. The stinger is usually used to immobilize prey, that could be used to insert their eggs inside, but we see many bees and wasps using for self defense.

The larvae of the hymenoptera have a head region, three thoracic segments, and nine or ten abdominal segments. The hymenoptera, is further divided into the Symphyta and Apocrita. The former includes sawflies, whose larvae feed on leaves, have large mandibles for chewing; six thoracic limbs, and six to eight abdominal prolegs. However, their prolegs do not have spines, and their antennae are reduced to just stubs. Furthermore, the larvae that lives on wood or stem borers have no abdominal prolegs and the thoracic legs are smaller than the non-borers.

The Apocrita, whose species are wasps and bees, however, cannot live freely. The lack of legs, and their shape resembling a maggot, requires them to be taken care either by the solitary wasp who laid them, or by the workers and queen in a beehive. If the larvae was laid by a wasp, it will most likely be living inside of the immobilized insect it captured, where the offspring can feed off of the prey. The larvae laid in the insect have some morphological differences, the head is reduced into the prothorax, the compound eyes are poorly developed, with no ocelli; very small or absent antennae and toothlike mandibles. It also lacks the ability to defecate, since their digestive system is not completed, to avoid contamination in the environment they live. The larvae that has a stinger, generally has ten spiracles, for breathing, while the parasitic form usually has nine. 

== Reproduction ==
'''Haplodiploid sex-determination system'''
In the order Hymenoptera, reproduction uses the Haplodiploid sex-determination system, in which the number of chromosomes determines their gender. If the eggs are fertilized by both parent's gametes, the individual is diploid and develops into a female. [[File:1920px-Haplodiploid Sex Determination in Honey Bees.svg.png|200px|thumb|right|Haplodiploid system diagram]] However, if the egg is not fertilized by two sets of gametes, the zygote is haploid, and develops into a male. The important factor in this system is that the female is under total control of which gender her offspring will be, depending on what the nest or hive needs in the moment.

Although this system seems very simple to understand, it actually is much more complex than only the number of chromosomes present. In many hymenopterans, the gender is determined in a single gene locus with many alleles. In these organisms, males are haploid and females are diploid heterozygous at the sex locus. However, a diploid organism could be homozygous which develops into a male. This is more likely to happen when we have parents who were siblings reproducing. Diploid males are known for being produced by inbreeding, in many ant, bee, and wasp species. These males organisms, usually are infertile but you can find some species with fertile diploid males.

A problem that appears due to this reproduction system is that females on average have more genes in common with their sisters than with their daughters. Therefore, cooperation among kindred females may be unusually advantageous, which contributed to the multiple origins of eusociality within this order. In many colonies, we see the removal of eggs laid by other workers due to the increase in relatedness to direct siblings, a behavior called worker policing.

'''Thelytoky''' [[File:Central fusion and terminal fusion automixis.svg.png|200px|thumb|right|Thelitoky Diagram]]

Some hymenopterans also use a type of parthenogenesis, which is the production of an embryo without fertilization, to produce other females. Through the process of thelytoky, a female is produced from the fusion of two haploid proto-eggs in the same meiosis, producing a diploid zygote. This method of reproduction tends to maintain heterozygosity of the genome of the mother to the daughter. Many ant species use this method, some of them are: desert ant ''Cataglyphis cursor'', the clonal raider ant ''Cerapachys biroi'', the predaceous ant ''Platythyrea punctata'', and the electric ant (little fire ant) ''Wasmannia auropunctata''. It also occurs in the Cape honey bee ''Apis mellifera capensis''.

== Major Families ==

According to the NCSU Department of Entomology [4]

'''Sawflies''': Larvae feed on leaves, or burrow into plant tissues

1)''Diprionidae'': Conifer sawflies

2)''Tenthredinidae'': Common sawflies

3)''Cephidae'': Stem sawflies

'''Horntails''': Larvae are wood borers

1)''Siricidae'': Wood or Horntail wasp

'''Parasitic Wasps''': Larvae are parasitoid of other insects

1)''Ichneumonidae'': Largest family, parasitoids of spiders

2)''Braconidae'': mostly parasitoid of ''lepidopterous'' larvae

3)''Encyrtidae'': mostly parasitoid of ''aphids'' and scale insects

4)''Eulophidae'': parasitoid of beetles, moths, and other insects

5)''Trichogrammatidae'': egg parasites

'''Gall Wasps''': Larvae are herbivores which induce the formation of plant galls and live in or on these tissues

1)''Cynipidae'': most species live on oak trees

'''Predatory Wasps''': Adults provision nest sites with prey that they catch and paralyze by stinging

1)''Sphecidae'': prey on caterpillars and spiders

2)''Pompilidae'': prey on spiders

3)''Tiphiidae'': prey on beetle larvae

4)''Scoliidae'': prey on beetle larvae

5)''Vespidae'': prey on caterpillars

'''Social Wasps''': The nests are tended by sterile female workers

1)''Vespidae'': yellowjackets, hornets, paper wasps

'''Ants''': True social insects. Wingless workers forage for resources

1)''[[Formicidae]]'': Ants

'''Solitary Bees''': Adults build their individual nests and provision them with plant material (nectar or pollen)

1)''Halictidae'': Sweat bees

2)''Megachilidae'': Leafcutting bees

3)''Anthophoridae'': Carpenter bees

'''Social Bees''': True social insects. Communities are found in nests in the [[soil]] (Bumble Bees) or in cavities (Honey Bees). Sterile female workers forage for resources such as nectar or pollen

1)''Apidae'': Bumble bees and Honey bees

== Ecology ==

'''Eusociality''':[[File:Melissodes desponsa, f, face, Maine, Du Clos 2015-12-01-17.37 (24469964305).jpg|200px|thumb|right|Melissodes desponsa bee body covered in pollen]]

According to C.J.A. Bradshaw, C.R. McMahon [1], is an advanced social system where colonies of organisms are created for the succession of its offspring. This system exists when the adults belong to two or more overlapping generations, they take care cooperatively for the offspring, and are divided into reproductive and non-reproductive castes. This division of labor means that some females give up the ability to have offspring to facilitate reproduction by other individuals in the same colony.

According to Norman F. Johnson [9], the beginning of such society is after a virgin queen from a colony mates with one or several males. Then, the queen builds her nest, which could be in the soil, a natural cavity, or out in the open. The colony founding can be sometimes cooperative, and determining which individual will become the primary reproducer is established through behavioral interactions among the founders. Males are only needed for insemination of the new queens, which soon after will die. The eggs produced by the new queen, will develop into the first female worker generation, which usually cannot reproduce. These workers have many functions, they take care of the offspring, forage for resources, defend the nest and the queen. These functions are sometimes divided by workers, and sometimes by morphological differences in their bodies. Once well established, more males and females are produced to continue the growth of the colony.

'''Pollination''':[[File:Pollen grains observed in aeroplankton of South Europe.png|200px|thumb|right|Pollen Particles]][[File:European honey bee extracts nectar.jpg|200px|thumb|right|European honey bee drinking nectar of a flower]]

Pollination is the transfer of pollen, which can be via wind, water, insects, from the male structure (Anthers) of a flower to the female structure (Stigma) of either the same flower (Monoecious) or another (Dioecious) of the same species. This phenomena is what makes hymenopterans so important for the ecosystem they are present, since most plants rely on them for fertilization. Therefore, plants have evolved a symbiotic relationship with them, in which the plants produce the sweet nectar these insects require in their diet, and the hymenopterans while in search of the nectar carry particles of pollen in their bodies and pollinate other flowers. One of the reasons to why this is very important, is because without the help of pollinators, plants would have an even smaller chance for fertilization, since wind and water are not the best option. 


== References ==

[1]Bradshaw, C. J. A., and C. R. McMahon. 2008. Fecundity. Encyclopedia of [[Ecology]]:1535–1543.

[2]Contributors, W. 2021, April 22. Wasp. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp.

[3]Contributors, W. 2021, March 12. Hymenoptera. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera.

[4]Department of Entomology. 2015. Hymenoptera. NC State [[Agriculture]] and Life Sciences. https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/hymenoptera/.

[5]The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1999. Wasp. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. https://www.britannica.com/animal/wasp.

[6]Greenwood, D. 2019, May 30. Bee Larvae. https://beehivehero.com/bee-larvae/.

[7]Institution Archives, S. (n.d.). Wasps, Ants, and Bees (Hymenoptera). Department of Systematic Biology, Entomology Section, National Museum of Natural History, in cooperation with Public Inquiry Services, Smithsonian Institution. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/hymenoptera.

[8]Jernigan, C. M. 2017, June 13. Bee Anatomy. Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/honey-bee-anatomy.

[9]Johnson, N. F. 2001. Hymenoptera. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity:417–426.

[10]Lindauer, M. 1999. Hymenopteran. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. https://www.britannica.com/animal/hymenopteran/Natural-history#ref39798.

[11]Peters, R. S., L. Krogmann, C. Mayer, A. Donath, S. Gunkel, K. Meusemann, A. Kozlov, L. Podsiadlowski, M. Petersen, R. Lanfear, P. A. Diez, J. Heraty, K. M. Kjer, S. Klopfstein, R. Meier, C. Polidori, T. Schmitt, S. Liu, X. Zhou, T. Wappler, J. Rust, B. Misof, and O. Niehuis. 2017. Evolutionary History of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27:1013–1018.

File:Hymenoptera.jpg

2025-03-10T03:05:45Z

Jplamacc: Example of Hymenoptera Order

== Summary ==
Example of Hymenoptera Order