The ant nest “bomber”: Explosive defensive system of the flanged bombardier beetle Paussus favieri (Coleoptera, Carabidae)
Graphical abstract
Introduction
“… I saw two rare beetles, and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one.” Charles Darwin
Bombardier beetles, the only animals capable of sustaining hot explosions inside their bodies (Aneshansley et al., 1969, Arndt et al., 2015), are commonly recognized as having one of the most sophisticated defensive mechanisms documented to date. Each blast is accompanied by an audible “pop”, heat, and a fine aerosolized spray resembling swirling smoke, all reminiscent of small cannons, which they aim at their enemies with astonishing accuracy (Eisner and Aneshansley, 1982, Eisner and Aneshansley, 1999, Dean, 1980a, Dean, 1980b, Eisner et al., 2006).
Since the beginning of the 19th century, this explosive defensive system has attracted the attention of generations of scientists and has been studied as a biomimetic model for several human applications (Beheshti and McIntosh, 2007, Lai, 2010, Booth et al., 2012, Schroeder et al., 2018). Scientists have most thoroughly investigated this system from chemical and functional points of view (Eisner, 1958, Schildknecht and Holoubek, 1961, Moore and Wallbank, 1968, Roach et al., 1979, Schildknecht et al., 1968, Schildknecht et al., 1970, Aneshansley et al., 1969, Aneshansley et al., 1983, Schildknecht, 1970, Eisner et al., 1977, Eisner et al., 1989, Eisner et al., 1991, Eisner et al., 2000, Eisner et al., 2001, Eisner and Aneshansley, 1982, Eisner and Aneshansley, 1999, Arndt et al., 2015). Most recently, the defensive systems of several genera within the subfamily Brachininae were investigated in detail (Di Giulio et al., 2015b) building upon previous work at a gross morphological level (Forsyth, 1972, Deuve, 1993).
Members of the subfamily Brachininae are the most famous bombardier beetles, but a similar explosive defensive system is also found in all members of the ground beetle subfamily Paussinae. Paussine beetles are commonly known as “flanged bombardier beetles” (Moore, 2006) due to the presence of a unique subapical fold on their elytra which they use to direct the spray toward the front of their bodies (Eisner and Aneshansley, 1982). There are approximately 800 species of Paussinae classified in 4 tribes. The tribe Paussini is the most speciose (with about 600 described species) and contains species that live obligately with ants and contain many highly derived and bizarre adaptations for this extreme lifestyle (Di Giulio et al., 2009, Di Giulio et al., 2012, Di Giulio et al., 2014, Di Giulio et al., 2015a, Moore and Robertson, 2014, Robertson and Moore, 2017).
The unique similarities between the defensive systems of Brachininae and Paussinae, including the gross structure of the defensive system (especially the unique presence of the reaction chamber in both lineages of bombardier beetles) and the ejected chemicals (mainly benzoquinones, hydrogen peroxide and various hydrocarbons such as alkanes, alkenes and alkadienes) have been stressed in the past as evidence that paussines and brachinines are sister groups (Eisner et al., 1977, Eisner et al., 1989, Eisner et al., 1991, Eisner et al., 2000). However, the phylogenetic relationship between Brachininae and Paussinae remains unclear (Maddison et al., 1999, Maddison et al., 2009, Eisner et al., 2000, Eisner et al., 2001), and some authors regard the similarities in the defensive systems of the bombardier beetles as products of convergent evolution (Forsyth, 1972, Ball and McCleve, 1990, Beutel, 1993, Arndt, 1998, Liebherr and Will, 1998).
In this paper we use optical, fluorescence and focused ion beam (FIB/SEM) microscopy to analyse the explosive defensive system of the flanged bombardier beetle Paussus favieri, a social parasite of Pheidole pallidula, and one of the most charismatic beetles in Europe (Fig. 1A). In order to facilitate comparisons between the defensive systems of paussines and brachinines, we followed the same methods and techniques used in our recently published work on the Brachininae genera Brachinus, Pheropsophus and Aptinus (Di Giulio et al., 2015b) and on Paussinae genera Metrius and Sinometrius (Muzzi et al., 2019).
Section snippets
Material examined
Twelve adults of P. favieri (6 females and 6 males) were collected in 2010 from nests of P. pallidula found under stones in a Mediterranean garigue on the High Atlas Mountains (Tizi-n-Test, about 3 km N to pass, 2063 m elevation, 30.87288° N– 8.36204° W).
Histology
Two specimens of P. favieri were anesthetized with CO2, fixed with Bouin's solution, dehydrated in a graded ethanol series, and embedded in paraffin. Serial sections were cut at 5–7 μm with a rotary microtome CUT 6062 (SLEE, Mainz, Germany) and
General structure of the defensive system
As in all adephagan beetles, the defensive system of P. favieri (Fig. 1B,C) comprises two symmetrical glandular systems located in the posterior part of the abdomen, between the sixth and ninth abdominal segments, dorsal to the reproductive organs and adjacent to the hindgut. Each glandular system is physically and functionally independent of the other. Secretory lobes discharge chemical precursors into a collecting duct, which empties into a voluminous reservoir chamber. A cuticular valve
Discussion
P. favieri is a West-mediterranean species emerging as a model for the entire tribe Paussini, thanks to the recent studies dealing with larval development (Di Giulio et al., 2011), behaviour (Le Masne, 1961, Maurizi et al., 2012), parasitic strategies (Cammaerts et al., 1990, Di Giulio et al., 2014, Di Giulio et al., 2015a), sensorial organs (Di Giulio et al., 2012) and glandular anatomy (Di Giulio et al., 2009). Below we compare the fine morphology and anatomy of the different components of
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Prof. Sandra Moreno (University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy) for the help in preparing the biological samples, and Eng. Daniele De Felicis (University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy) for the kind availability and technical assistance in the LIME lab. We thank Prof. Ahmed El Hassani (Institut Scientifique, Université Mohammed V Agdal, Rabat, Morocco) for granting us the permit to collect Paussus favieri specimens. We thank three anonymous reviewers for the helpful suggestions. The research
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