ABSTRACT

The study of social wasp biology is often focused on understanding the factors involved in the evolution of social behavior. However, despite the importance of parasitism for the fitness of social insect colonies, little is known about the presence of parasitic protozoan infections in Neotropical social wasp populations. Herein, we report the first recorded occurrence of eugregarines in the midgut of the paper wasp Polistes versicolor. Our study shows 46% of the adults (n = 50) in the studied population were infected with gregarine trophozoites. No protozoans were identified in any of the sampled larvae (n = 14). This new record may indicate the existence of a new taxon within Order Eugregarinorida.

摘要

社会黄蜂生物学的研究通常侧重于了解社会行为进化中涉及的因素。然而，尽管寄生对社会性昆虫群落的适应性很重要，但人们对新热带社会性黄蜂种群中寄生性原生动物感染的存在知之甚少。在此，我们报告了在纸黄蜂Polistes versicolor的中肠中首次记录的 eugregarines 的出现。我们的研究表明，研究人群中 46% 的成年人 (n = 50) 感染了 gregarine 滋养体。在任何采样的幼虫中都没有发现原生动物 (n = 14)。这个新记录可能表明在 Order Eugregarinorida 中存在一个新的分类单元。