| Grant number: | 13/01918-1 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |
| Start date: | May 01, 2013 |
| End date: | November 09, 2016 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology |
| Principal Investigator: | Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo Pereira |
| Grantee: | Larissa Galante Elias |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 13/22414-1 - Role of the venom gland in fig wasps life histories (Hymenoptera:Chalcidoidea), BE.EP.PD |
Abstract Resource partitioning is related to coexistence and diversification of plant-associated insects. In tri-trophic interactions (e.g. plant, phytophagous insects and parasitoids), numerous resource exploitation strategies can coexist in the same system, allowing complex communities to be associated to the same plant species. A large portion of this diversity is represented in the system Ficus (Moraceae) - fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). The system involves wasps from different lineages and with diversified habits (gallers, cleptoparasites and parasitoids). Given the diversity of larval feeding habits in fig wasps, it is possible that the venom gland secretion in these species has chemical characteristics that vary according to the function (gall induction or host manipulation). Therefore, we will analise morphological, ultrastructural and chemical characters of the venom gland and its reservoir in different fig wasp species, aiming at establishing a precise and direct indicator of larval feeding habit. Information about habits and types of interaction will contribute to stablishing a scenario suggesting mechanisms related to resource partitioning and diversification of groups.We will study species with different larval feeding habits that belong to the main clades of two fig wasp subfamilies (Agaonidae: Sycophaginae and Pteromalidae: Sycoryctinae). We expect that the venom gland secretion differs chemically according to the larval feeding habit. This is a novel proposal, since no glandular secretion compounds have been described or investigated in fig wasps, and their characterization will set out an approach likely to change the focus given to the study of these insects' biologies. | |
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