Larval aquatic and terrestrial mites infesting parthenogenetic Ischnura hastata (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) from the Azores islands.

We report here the prevalence of parasitism by water mites (Arrenurus sp.) and terrestrial mites (Leptus killingtoni) on parthenogenetic Ischnura hastata (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) from the Azores islands. Leptus killingtoni was only found on the island of Pico, and the prevalence of infestation was highly variable among the different ponds studied, ranging from 0 to 41%. Leptus killingtoni was observed on three of the four odonate species from the archipelago: I. hastata, I. pumilio, and Sympetrum fonscolombii, all of them new hosts for this species. Aquatic mites have been found parasitizing I. hastata females on the island of São Miguel. The prevalence of mite parasitism by Arrenurus sp. on I. hastata was very low, ranging from 12% (2003) to 1% (2008), and in most of the studied ponds, no mites were found attached to females. Although I. hastata coexists with a sexual congener species in the Azores (I. pumilio), they are syntopic in only a small fraction of ponds. Therefore, a comparison between I. hastata and I. pumilio was insufficient to test the predictions of the Red Queen Hypothesis, and further research on parasitism rates in both species needs to be done. In any case, the low prevalence of mite parasitism found in the Azores, coupled with the fact that most of the populations in the archipelago are almost free from competitors and predators, could explain the persistence of these I. hastata parthenogenetic populations, despite their low levels of genetic variation.

Widespread Wolbachia infection in an insular radiation of damselflies (Odonata, Coenagrionidae).

Wolbachia is one of the most common endosymbionts found infecting arthropods. Theory predicts symbionts like Wolbachia will be more common in species radiations, as host shift events occur with greatest frequency between closely related species. Further, the presence of Wolbachia itself may engender reproductive isolation, and promote speciation of their hosts. Here we screened 178 individuals belonging to 30 species of the damselfly genera Nesobasis and Melanesobasis - species radiations endemic to the Fiji archipelago in the South Pacific - for Wolbachia, using multilocus sequence typing to characterize bacterial strains. Incidence of Wolbachia was 71% in Nesobasis and 40% in Melanesobasis, and prevalence was also high, with an average of 88% in the Nesobasis species screened. We identified a total of 25 Wolbachia strains, belonging to supergroups A, B and F, with some epidemic strains present in multiple species. The occurrence of Wolbachia in both males and females, and the similar global prevalence found in both sexes rules out any strong effect of Wolbachia on the primary sex-ratio, but are compatible with the phenotype of cytoplasmic incompatibility. Nesobasis has higher species richness than most endemic island damselfly genera, and we discuss the potential for endosymbiont-mediated speciation within this group.