Review

Authors: Sofia Cividini, Giuseppe Montesanto

Effective communication is essential in animal life to allow fundamental behavioral processes and survival. Communicating by surface-borne vibrations is likely the most ancient mode of getting and exchanging information in both invertebrates and vertebrates. In this review, we concentrate on the use of vibrational communication in arthropods as a form of intraspecific and interspecific signaling, with a focus on the newest discoveries from our research group in terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea), a taxon never investigated before in this context. After getting little attention in the past, biotremology is now an emerging field of study in animal communication, and it is receiving increased interest from the scientific community dealing with these behavioral processes. In what follows, we illustrate the general principles and mechanisms on which biotremology is based, using definitions, examples, and insights from the literature in arthropods. Vibrational communication in arthropods has mainly been studied in insects and arachnids. For these taxa, much evidence of its use as a source of information from the surrounding environment exists, as well as its involvement in many behavioral roles, such as courtship and mating, conspecific recognition, competition, foraging, parental care, and danger perception. Recently, and for the first time, communication through surface-borne waves has been studied in terrestrial isopods, using a common Mediterranean species of the Armadillidae family as a pilot species, Armadillo officinalis Duméril, 1816. Mainly, for this species, we describe typical behavioral processes, such as turn alternation, aggregation, and stridulation, where vibrational communication appears to be involved.

Topics: Animal Communication; Animals; Arthropods; Insecta; Isopoda; Vibration

PubMed: 32632754
DOI: 10.3758/s13420-020-00428-3

Review

Authors: Sarah Pfeffer, Harald Wolf

The feats of arthropods, and of the well-studied insects and crustaceans in particular, have fascinated scientists and laymen alike for centuries. Arthropods show a diverse repertoire of cognitive feats, of often unexpected sophistication. Despite their smaller brains and resulting lower neuronal capacity, the cognitive abilities of arthropods are comparable to, or may even exceed, those of vertebrates, depending on the species compared. Miniature brains often provide parsimonious but smart solutions for complex behaviours or ecologically relevant problems. This makes arthropods inspiring subjects for basic research, bionics, and robotics. Investigations of arthropod spatial cognition have originally concentrated on the honeybee, an animal domesticated for several thousand years. Bees are easy to keep and handle, making this species amenable to experimental study. However, there are an estimated 5-10 million arthropod species worldwide, with a broad diversity of lifestyles, ecology, and cognitive abilities. This high diversity provides ample opportunity for comparative analyses. Comparative study, rather than focusing on single model species, is well suited to scrutinise the link between ecological niche, lifestyle, and cognitive competence. It also allows the discovery of general concepts that are transferable between distantly related groups of organisms. With species diversity and a comparative approach in mind, this special issue compiles four review articles and ten original research reports from a spectrum of arthropod species. These contributions range from the well-studied hymenopterans, and ants in particular, to chelicerates and crustaceans. They thus present a broad spectrum of glimpses into current research on arthropod spatial cognition, and together they cogently emphasise the merits of research into arthropod cognitive achievements.

Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Cognition; Ecology; Ecosystem; Insecta

PubMed: 33170438
DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01446-4

Review

Authors: Mark R Brown, Douglas H Sieglaff, Huw H Rees...

Ecdysteroids are multifunctional hormones in male and female arthropods and are stored in oocytes for use during embryogenesis. Ecdysteroid biosynthesis and its hormonal regulation are demonstrated for insect gonads, but not for the gonads of other arthropods. The Y-organ in the cephalothorax of crustaceans and the integument of ticks are sources of secreted ecdysteroids in adults, as in earlier stages, but the tissue source is not known for adults in many arthropod groups. Ecdysteroid metabolism occurs in several tissues of adult arthropods. This review summarizes the evidence for ecdysteroid biosynthesis by gonads and its metabolism in adult arthropods and considers the apparent uniqueness of ecdysteroid hormones in arthropods, given the predominance of vertebrate-type steroids in sister invertebrate groups and vertebrates.

Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Ecdysteroids; Gonads

PubMed: 18680437
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.53.103106.093334

Authors: Javier Ortega-Hernández, Jie Yang, Xi-Guang Zhang...

Ortega-Hernández et al. introduce fuxianhuiids, Cambrian arthropods that are important for our understaindg how the largest animal phylum evolved.

Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Biological Evolution; China; Fossils; Life History Traits; Phylogeny

PubMed: 29990450
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.042

Review

Authors: Lage Cerenius, Kenneth Söderhäll

In most animals there is a need to quickly prevent the loss of blood or equivalent fluids through inflicted injuries. In invertebrates with an open circulatory system (and sometimes a hydroskeleton as well) these losses may otherwise soon be fatal. Also, there is a need to prevent microbes that have gained access to the body through the wound from disseminating throughout the open circulatory system. Therefore, many invertebrates possess a coagulation system to prevent such accidents from having too serious consequences. In this review we discuss recent developments in a few animals - mainly arthropods - where more detailed data are available. It is likely, however, that corresponding systems are present in most phyla, but this is still unchartered territory.

Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Blood Coagulation; Immunity; Invertebrates; Wound Healing

PubMed: 21051883
DOI: 10.1159/000322066

Authors: Prashant P Sharma

Compared to other arthropods, such as crustaceans or insects, the term 'chelicerate' often does not evoke a similar sense of recognition or familiarity. Yet the subphylum Chelicerata has been encountered by every living person today, frequently to the effect of fear, awe, or outright revulsion. Chelicerates include such familiar groups as spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks, as well as an array of bizarre and unfamiliar forms, such as vinegaroons, camel spiders, and hooded tick spiders (Figure 1).

Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Behavior, Animal; Biodiversity; Life History Traits; Phylogeny

PubMed: 30040933
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.036

Review

Authors: Sourabh Samaddar, Liron Marnin, L Rainer Butler...

Metabolism influences biochemical networks, and arthropod vectors are endowed with an immune system that affects microbial acquisition, persistence, and transmission to humans and other animals. Here, we aim to persuade the scientific community to expand their interests in immunometabolism beyond mammalian hosts and towards arthropod vectors. Immunometabolism investigates the interplay of metabolism and immunology. We provide a conceptual framework for investigators from diverse disciplines and indicate that relationships between microbes, mammalian hosts and their hematophagous arthropods may result in cost-effective (mutualism) or energetically expensive (parasitism) interactions. We argue that disparate resource allocations between species may partially explain why some microbes act as pathogens when infecting humans and behave as mutualistic or commensal organisms when colonizing arthropod vectors.

Topics: Animals; Arthropod Vectors; Arthropods; Species Specificity

PubMed: 32819827
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.07.010

Authors: Javier Ortega-Hernández

Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Biological Evolution; Fossils; Invertebrates; Phylogeny

PubMed: 26439350
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.07.028

Review

Authors: Jirka Manuel Petersen, Amy L Burgess, Monique M van Oers...

The nudiviruses (family: Nudiviridae) are large double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses that infect insects and crustaceans, and have most recently been identified from ectoparasitic members (fleas and lice). This virus family was created in 2014 and has since been expanded via the discovery of multiple novel viral candidates or accepted members, sparking the need for a new taxonomic and evolutionary overview. Using current information (including data from public databases), we construct a new comprehensive phylogeny, encompassing 49 different nudiviruses. We use this novel phylogeny to propose a new taxonomic structure of the Nudiviridae by suggesting two new viral genera (Zetanudivirus and Etanudivirus), from ectoparasitic lice. We detail novel emerging relationships between nudiviruses and their hosts, considering their evolutionary history and ecological role.

Topics: Animals; Phylogeny; Nudiviridae; Arthropods; Biological Evolution

PubMed: 39019701
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2024.06.009

Authors: Ruolin Wu, Davide Pisani, Philip C J Donoghue...

Panarthropoda, the clade comprising the phyla Onychophora, Tardigrada and Euarthropoda, encompasses the largest majority of animal biodiversity. The relationships among the phyla are contested and resolution is key to understanding the evolutionary assembly of panarthropod bodyplans. Molecular phylogenetic analyses generally support monophyly of Onychophora and Euarthropoda to the exclusion of Tardigrada (Lobopodia hypothesis), which is also supported by some analyses of morphological data. However, analyses of morphological data have also been interpreted to support monophyly of Tardigrada and Euarthropoda to the exclusion of Onychophora (Tactopoda hypothesis). Support has also been found for a clade of Onychophora and Tardigrada that excludes Euarthropoda (Protarthropoda hypothesis). Here we show, using a diversity of phylogenetic inference methods, that morphological datasets cannot discriminate statistically between the Lobopodia, Tactopoda and Protarthropoda hypotheses. Since the relationships among the living clades of panarthropod phyla cannot be discriminated based on morphological data, we call into question the accuracy of morphology-based phylogenies of Panarthropoda that include fossil species and the evolutionary hypotheses based upon them.

Topics: Animals; Phylogeny; Arthropods; Uncertainty; Biological Evolution; Tardigrada

PubMed: 36628953
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0497