Finishing up processing field notes and photos from a trip to Sierra San Diego in the El Tigre complex in Sonora. A great trip with a wonderful group of biologists!
Prebus
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ant nerd, nature dork, art dweeb
Searching for ants along the Three Rivers trail in the White Mountain wilderness of New Mexico. We had four rattlesnake encounters in a single day!
@pogomcl Yes! The parasites appear to be affecting the nervous system somehow.
@naturepoker Yes! We have some Illumina data already, but we haven't analyzed it yet.
@StrepsipZerg yes, and it doesn't help that they're difficult to keep in the lab (in my experience).
@StrepsipZerg Unfortunately not, but that would be fun. There is so much more to do here: quantifying the behavior of the parasitized ants, figuring out what the ultimate host of the parasite is, finding the mechanisms responsible for the 'shakiness', the melanism, the morphology, etc.
We don't even have a name attached to the cestode yet, but our co-author is working on it.
They seem to be locally abundant, if anyone else is interested in working on them.
2/2 We also confirmed the observation made by the Wheelers back in the '60s that Manica parasitica is really "shaky". Maybe this is an "adaptive manipulation" by the parasite?
1/2 We (re)rediscovered Manica parasitica in the Sierra Nevada. Originally, this ant species was thought to be a free-loading parasite that uses the nests and brood care of its host Manica bradleyi for its own survival.
Instead, "Manica parasitica" is tapeworm-infested Manica bradleyi.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0399