IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v25y2014i2p335-343..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social parasitism: emergence of the cuckoo strategy between pseudoscorpions

Author

Listed:
  • Everton Tizo-Pedroso
  • Kleber Del-Claro

Abstract

Social parasitism is an intriguing model of arms-race coevolution, in which the parasite exploits the host social system. The parasite evolves to breakdown the host’s defenses. We analyzed the role of 2 pseudoscorpion species that live in mixed colonies in the Brazilian Cerrado (tropical savannah). Multispecies aggregation is a rare phenomenon among arachnids. Mixed pseudoscorpion colonies were studied in nature and in the laboratory during a period of 7 years and the hypothesis of a relationship based on social parasitism between species was evaluated, including the main strategies involved. Experiments and direct behavioral observations indicated that the pseudoscorpion Parachernes melanopygus is a social parasite of Paratemnoides nidificator, able to invade host colonies and exploit their resources by simulating host nymphs’ behavior. Although the host species has a recognition system, the parasite evades colony defenses by using a chemical camouflage mechanism. We find support for the hypothesis of a new model of social parasitism among phylogenetically distant pseudoscorpion species. To survive in the host colony, the parasite applies a combination of strategies, previously observed in social brood parasite ants and birds. This phenomenon provides new knowledge of the Arachnida group and also for known models of social parasitism.

Suggested Citation

  • Everton Tizo-Pedroso & Kleber Del-Claro, 2014. "Social parasitism: emergence of the cuckoo strategy between pseudoscorpions," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(2), pages 335-343.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:25:y:2014:i:2:p:335-343.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/art114
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeanne A. Zeh & David W. Zeh, 2006. "Outbred embryos rescue inbred half-siblings in mixed-paternity broods of live-bearing females," Nature, Nature, vol. 439(7073), pages 201-203, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:25:y:2014:i:2:p:335-343.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.