Description of two new species of Sycophilodes (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Epichrysomallidae) from China with a key to species of the genus.

Two new species of Epichrysomallidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), Sycophilodes densfemur Yang, Peng and Rasplus sp. nov. and S.

Enhanced and asymmetric signatures of hybridization at climatic margins: Evidence from closely related dioecious fig species.

Hybridization plays a significant role in biological evolution. However, it is not clear whether ecological contingency differentially influences likelihood of hybridization, particularly at ecological margins where parental species may exhibit reduced fitnesses. Moreover, it is unknown whether future ecosystem change will increase the prevalence of hybridization.

The genus Bhat (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae) newly recorded from China.

Background: Alysiinae Leach is a species-rich subfamily in Braconidae, of which several species play an important role in biological control. The monotypic genus Bhat, 1980 was discovered in Tibet and Yunnan provinces for the first time, representing the first record of the genus Bhat, 1980 (Braconidae, Alysiinae) in China.

New Information: The rare genus Bhat, 1980 (Braconidae, Alysiinae) and its only known species, Bhat, 1980, are newly recorded from China.

Pollinator sharing and hybridization in a pair of dioecious figs sheds light on the pathways to speciation.

The dynamics and processes underlying the codiversification of plant-pollinator interactions are of great interest to researchers of biodiversity and evolution. Cospeciation is generally considered a key process driving the diversity of figs and their pollinating wasps. Groups of closely related figs pollinated by separate wasps occur frequently and represent excellent opportunities to study ongoing diversification in this textbook mutualism.

Two new species of Haliday (Hymenoptera, Ismaridae) from Yunnan, China.

The genus Haliday are rarely collected parasitoids in the small family Ismaridae. In this study, two new species are described from China's Yunnan Province: Chen & Yan, and Chen & Yan, An updated key to the Chinese species of the genus is provided.

Echoes of ancient introgression punctuate stable genomic lineages in the evolution of figs.

Studies investigating the evolution of flowering plants have long focused on isolating mechanisms such as pollinator specificity. Some recent studies have proposed a role for introgressive hybridization between species, recognizing that isolating processes such as pollinator specialization may not be complete barriers to hybridization. Occasional hybridization may therefore lead to distinct yet reproductively connected lineages.

East‒West genetic differentiation across the Indo-Burma hotspot: evidence from two closely related dioecious figs.

Background: Understanding biodiversity patterns and their underlying mechanisms is of interest to ecologists, biogeographers and conservationists and is critically important for conservation efforts. The Indo-Burma hotspot features high species diversity and endemism, yet it also faces significant threats and biodiversity losses; however, few studies have explored the genetic structure and underlying mechanisms of Indo-Burmese species. Here, we conducted a comparative phylogeographic analysis of two closely related dioecious Ficus species, F.

Host insect specificity and interspecific competition drive parasitoid diversification in a plant-insect community.

Ecological interactions among plants, insect herbivores, and parasitoids are pervasive in nature and play important roles in community assembling, but the codiversification of tri-trophic interactions has received less attention. Here we compare pairwise codiversification patterns between a set of 22 fig species, their herbivorous pollinating and galling wasps, and their parasitoids. The parasitoid phylogeny showed significant congruence and more cospeciation events with host insects phylogeny than with host plants.

Diversity and metabolic potentials of microbial communities associated with pollinator and cheater fig wasps in fig-fig wasp mutualism system.

Microbial symbionts can influence a myriad of insect behavioral and physiological traits. However, how microbial communities may shape or be shaped by insect interactions with plants and neighboring species remains underexplored. The fig-fig wasp mutualism system offers a unique model to study the roles of microbiome in the interactions between the plants and co-habiting insects because a confined fig environment is shared by two fig wasp species, the pollinator wasp ( and ) and the cheater wasp ( sp1 and sp2).

Comparative chloroplast genome analysis of (Moraceae): Insight into adaptive evolution and mutational hotspot regions.

As the largest genus in Moraceae, is widely distributed across tropical and subtropical regions and exhibits a high degree of adaptability to different environments. At present, however, the phylogenetic relationships of this genus are not well resolved, and chloroplast evolution in remains poorly understood. Here, we sequenced, assembled, and annotated the chloroplast genomes of 10 species of , downloaded and assembled 13 additional species based on next-generation sequencing data, and compared them to 46 previously published chloroplast genomes.

Updating the taxonomy of the ant genus Myrmecina (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in China with descriptions of three new species.

In this study, we present a taxonomic update for the ant genus Myrmecina in China that includes 14 species in total. A recent survey of the leaf litter ant fauna in Chinas Hengduan Mountains collected three unknown Myrmecina species, which we describe here as Myrmecina eowilsoni sp. nov.

Overlaps in olfactive signalling coupled with geographic variation may result in localised pollinator sharing between closely related Ficus species.

Background: In brood site pollination mutualisms, pollinators are attracted by odours emitted at anthesis. In Ficus, odours of receptive figs differ among species and the specific pollinators generally only enter figs of their host species ensuring a pre-zygotic barrier to plant interspecific hybridisation. However, field observations recorded that, in Guangdong province in China, Valisia javana hilli, the local pollinator of F.

Changes in temperature alter competitive interactions and overall structure of fig wasp communities.

Organisms exist within ecological networks, connected through interactions such as parasitism, predation and mutualism which can modify their abundance and distribution within habitat patches. Differential species responses make it hard to predict the influence of climate change at the community scale. Understanding the interplay between climate and biotic interactions can improve our predictions of how ecosystems will respond to current global warming.

The complete chloroplast genome of two related fig species and .

The and share an undescribed pollinating fig wasp sp. in Xishuangbanna region, which constitutes the most excellent model to study the role of convergent evolution and hybridization in the species-specific fig-wasp mutualism. The plastomes were 160,350 bp for and 160,300 bp for , both in length with the typical quadripartite structure.

Tackling the Taxonomic Challenges in the Family Scoliidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) Using an Integrative Approach: A Case Study from Southern China.

Species of the family Scoliidae are larval parasitoids of scarabaeoid beetles and pollinators of various plants. Despite their great importance in pest biological control and plant pollination, the taxonomy and systematics of these parasitoids are far from clear. Some species of the family are extremely morphologically similar and difficult to identify, especially in males.

Diversity begets diversity: Low resource heterogeneity reduces the diversity of nut-nesting ants in rubber plantations.

One of the most general patterns in ecology is the positive relationship between environmental heterogeneity and local diversity. On the one hand, increased resource heterogeneity provides more resources for diverse consumers in the community. On the other hand, increased structural heterogeneity creates variation in the environment's physical structure, thus allowing the coexistence of diverse species with different environmental requirements.

The evolution of parasitism from mutualism in wasps pollinating the fig, , in Yunnan Province, China.

Theory identifies factors that can undermine the evolutionary stability of mutualisms. However, theory's relevance to mutualism stability in nature is controversial. Detailed comparative studies of parasitic species that are embedded within otherwise mutualistic taxa (e.

Ants of the Hengduan Mountains: a new altitudinal survey and updated checklist for Yunnan Province highlight an understudied insect biodiversity hotspot.

China's Hengduan Mountain region has been considered one of the most diverse regions in the northern hemisphere. Its stunning topography with many deep valleys and impassable mountain barriers has promoted an astonishing diversification in many groups of organisms including plants, birds, mammals, and amphibians. However, the insect biodiversity in this region is still poorly known.

Climate and land-use interactively shape butterfly diversity in tropical rainforest and savanna ecosystems of southwestern China.

Human-induced habitat conversion and degradation, along with accelerating climatic change, have resulted in considerable global biodiversity loss. Nevertheless, how local ecological assemblages respond to the interplay between climate and land-use change remains poorly understood. Here, we examined the effects of climate and land-use interactions on butterfly diversity in different ecosystems of southwestern China.

A comparative venomic fingerprinting approach reveals that galling and non-galling fig wasp species have different venom profiles.

The galling habit represents a complex type of interaction between insects and plants, ranging from antagonism to mutualism. The obligate pollination mutualism between Ficus and fig wasps relies strongly on the induction of galls in Ficus flowers, where wasps' offspring develop. Even though gall induction plays an important role in many insect-plant interactions, the mechanisms that trigger gall formation are still not completely known.

The caterpillar fungus, Ophiocordyceps sinensis, genome provides insights into highland adaptation of fungal pathogenicity.

To understand the potential genetic basis of highland adaptation of fungal pathogenicity, we present here the ~116 Mb de novo assembled high-quality genome of Ophiocordyceps sinensis endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Compared with other plain-dwelling fungi, we find about 3.4-fold inflation of the O.

Selective resource allocation may promote a sex ratio in pollinator fig wasps more beneficial for the host tree.

Mutualisms play a key role in most ecosystems, yet the mechanisms that prevent overexploitation of the mutualistic relationship are still poorly understood. In the mutualism between fig trees and their pollinating wasps both partners depend on each other. Fig trees benefit from female wasps that disperse their pollen, whereas wasps frequently benefit from a higher ratio of male offspring.

Insect responses to host plant provision beyond natural boundaries: latitudinal and altitudinal variation in a Chinese fig wasp community.

Many plants are grown outside their natural ranges. Plantings adjacent to native ranges provide an opportunity to monitor community assembly among associated insects and their parasitoids in novel environments, to determine whether gradients in species richness emerge and to examine their consequences for host plant reproductive success. We recorded the fig wasps (Chalcidoidea) associated with a single plant resource (ovules of Ficus microcarpa) along a 1200 km transect in southwest China that extended for 1000 km beyond the tree's natural northern range margin.

The incidence and pattern of copollinator diversification in dioecious and monoecious figs.

Differences in breeding system are associated with correlated ecological and morphological changes in plants. In Ficus, dioecy and monoecy are strongly associated with different suites of traits (tree height, population density, fruiting frequency, pollinator dispersal ecology). Although approximately 30% of fig species are pollinated by multiple species of fig-pollinating wasps, it has been suggested that copollinators are rare in dioecious figs.