To attach or not to attach? The effect of carrier surface morphology and topography on attachment of phoretic deutonymphs of Uropoda orbicularis (Acari).

Daria Bajerlein,Stefan Jurga,Maciej Wiesner,Wojciech Kacalak,Katarzyna Tandecka,Zbigniew Adamski

doi:10.1007/s00114-016-1385-9

Daria Bajerlein, Stefan Jurga + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1385-9

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Abstract

Previous studies on preferences of phoretic deutonymphs of Uropodina for attachment sites have shown that they frequently select smooth and hydrophobic surfaces. The aim of our study was to provide the detailed morphological and topographical characteristics of beetle body surfaces to which deutonymphs frequently attach and to verify how the presence of setae and surface sculpture affects deutonymph attachment. The study was conducted on Uropoda orbicularis (Müller, 1776) and its common beetle carriers: Aphodius prodromus (Brahm, 1790), Aphodius fimetarius (Linnaeus, 1758), Onthophagus nuchicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) and Margarinotus carbonarius (Hoffmann, 1803). Morphology and topography of elytra, femora, propygidia and pygidia of beetles were analysed mainly using SEM methods supported with CLSM and AFM techniques. The hypothesis that deutonymphs may attach to surfaces covered with setae, if seta density is low enough not to disturb mite movement, was tested. The study revealed that deutonymphs attach to surfaces of various types as follows: (i) smooth, (ii) hairy, i.e., covered with setae, (iii) flat and (iv) sculptured. Smooth body parts and body parts covered with setae of low density were most frequently and intensively occupied with deutonymphs. Surfaces of high seta density were avoided by mites. Within elytra of Aphodius beetles, deutonymphs definitely preferred flat surfaces of elytral intervals. On the contrary, densely punctuated propygidium and pygidium in M. carbonarius were heavily infested with deutonymphs. We conclude that carrier surface morphology and topography are important for Uropodina deutonymph attachment, but these two factors cannot fully explain the observed relation.

Highlights

The ability of attachment is a vital feature of living organisms enabling many basic life functions such as nutrition, reproduction and movement
Animals are supplied with various attachment devices that are divided in various ways according to the time of attachment duration, physical mechanism of the system and their biological functions (Gorb 2008; Gorb 2010)
Many Uropodina species have a wide range of carriers, and it has been shown that phoretic deutonymphs may attach to the same body parts in various beetle species, characterised with different morphology of the body surface (Bajerlein and Błoszyk 2004)

Summary

Introduction

The ability of attachment is a vital feature of living organisms enabling many basic life functions such as nutrition, reproduction and movement. In Uropodina mites, the phoretic stage is a deutonymph which developed an ability to secrete a sticky substance that enables a temporary attachment of a mite to its carrier. The pedicel is a typical example of a mushroom-shaped attachment structure It serves as a joint between the mite and its carrier—one terminus of the pedicel adheres to the anal region of the deutonymph and the other adheres to the carrier body surface. Topical specificity of phoretic deutonymphs of Uropodina is one of the most frequently studied aspects of phoresy in this mite group (Schwarz et al 1998; Bajerlein and Błoszyk 2004; Bajerlein and Przewoźny 2005; Błoszyk et al 2006b), the knowledge on morphology and topography of carrier body surfaces to which pedicels attach has never been the subject of more detailed analyses. The analysis was conducted on a phoretic mite—Uropoda orbicularis (Müller, 1776) and its common beetle carriers from families: Aphodiidae, Scarabaeidae and Histeridae

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