Using chemo-taxonomy of host ants to help conserve the large blue butterfly
Using chemo-taxonomy of host ants to help conserve the large blue butterfly
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DOI：
10.1016/j.biocon.2012.01.066
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发表时间：
2012-04
影响因子：
5.9
通讯作者：
R. Guillem;F. Drijfhout;S. Martin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Guillem;F. Drijfhout;S. Martin
大蓝蝴蝶（Phengaris arion）是一种濒临灭绝的古北物种，在1979年灭绝后被重新引入不列颠群岛。在英国保护这种蝴蝶是非常重要的，因为它是英国生物多样性行动计划的优先物种。P. arion幼虫高度专门寄生于Myrmica sabuleti蚂蚁，但也被其他Myrmica物种的巢穴所采用，特别是M。scabrinodis，在那里他们无法生存。因此，确保正确的宿主蚂蚁物种存在对于任何引进计划的成功至关重要。这是一个重大的挑战，因为Myrmica蚂蚁，特别是M。sabuleti和M. scabrinodis在形态上极其相似，即使是受过训练的蚁学家也难以正确识别。在这里，我们证明，化学分类学可以作为一种快速，廉价和准确的方式来分离形态相似的物种。我们发现，只需利用蚂蚁角质层上存在或不存在的两种物种特异性化合物，我们就可以轻松、可靠且快速地分离M。sabuleti（5-甲基二十五烷）来自M. scabrinodis（3-甲基二十三烷），来自英国各地的样本。这一知识将有助于提高未来的再引入计划的成功P.arion允许非专业人士，以确保正确的宿主物种之前，任何引进。据我们所知，这是化学分类学第一次专门用于帮助保护濒危物种。
The large blue butterfly (Phengaris arion) is an endangered Palaearctic species that was reintroduced into the British Isles after becoming extinct in 1979. The conservation of this butterfly in Britain is extremely important as it is a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. P. arion larvae are highly specialised parasitizing the ant Myrmica sabuleti, but are also adopted into nests of other Myrmica species, particularly M. scabrinodis, where they are unable to survive. Therefore, it is critical for the success of any introduction programme to ensure that the correct host ant species is present. This poses a major challenge since Myrmica ants, especially M. sabuleti and M. scabrinodis, are morphologically extremely similar with the correct identification proving problematic even for the trained myrmecologist. Here we demonstrate that chemo-taxonomy can be used as a fast, cheap and accurate way to separate morphologically similar species. We found that using the simple presence or absence of just two species-specific compounds found on the ant’s cuticle we could easily, reliably and quickly separate M. sabuleti (5-methylpentacosane) from M. scabrinodis (3-methyltricosane) from samples taken from across Britain. This knowledge will help increase the success of future reintroduction programmes of P.arion by allowing non-specialists to ensure the correct host species is present prior to any introduction. To our knowledge, this is the first time that chemo-taxonomy has been applied specifically to aid the conservation of an endangered species.