Trophic niche partitioning between potentially competing species within the same coenosis has been little explored for most of the major groups of arthropod soil predators, among which are the ...geophilomorph centipedes. We performed a comparative study in nature on the diet of three species of Geophilomorpha living in the same site in Southern Europe. Through PCR-based molecular gut content analysis, we estimated trophic niche width and overlap with respect to three common prey groups: lumbricids, collembolans and dipteran larvae. Results show that apparently similar geophilomorph species differ significantly in prey spectrum, with quite different niche widths. Estimates of predator diet overlap gave moderate values, non-significantly different from null expectations. Within-species diet composition does not vary significantly with sex. This work, while providing the first evidence of trophic niche partitioning among coexisting geophilomorph species, contributes to recent progresses in the understanding of intra-guild interactions between predators in the soil food webs.
•Three species of geophilomorphs living in the same coenosis differ in prey spectrum.•They differ in trophic niche width and exhibit modest niche overlap.•There is no evidence of intra-specific diet variation with sex.
Aim
To investigate the drivers of intra‐specific genetic diversity in centipedes, a group of ancient predatory soil arthropods.
Location
Asia, Australasia and Europe.
Time Period
Present.
Major Taxa ...Studied
Centipedes (Class: Chilopoda).
Methods
We assembled a database of 1245 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences representing 128 centipede species from all five orders of Chilopoda. This sequence dataset was used to estimate genetic diversity for centipede species and compare its distribution with estimates from other arthropod groups. We studied the variation in centipede genetic diversity with species traits and biogeography using a beta regression framework, controlling for the effect of shared evolutionary history within a family.
Results
A wide variation in genetic diversity across centipede species (0–0.1713) falls towards the higher end of values among arthropods. Overall, 27.57% of the variation in mitochondrial COI genetic diversity in centipedes was explained by a combination of predictors related to life history and biogeography. Genetic diversity decreased with body size and latitudinal position of sampled localities, was greater in species showing maternal care and increased with geographic distance among conspecifics.
Main Conclusions
Centipedes fall towards the higher end of genetic diversity among arthropods, which may be related to their long evolutionary history and low dispersal ability. In centipedes, the negative association of body size with genetic diversity may be mediated by its influence on local abundance or the influence of ecological strategy on long‐term population history. Species with maternal care had higher genetic diversity, which goes against expectations and needs further scrutiny. Hemispheric differences in genetic diversity can be due to historic climatic stability and lower seasonality in the southern hemisphere. Overall, we find that despite the differences in mean genetic diversity among animals, similar processes related to life‐history strategy and biogeography are associated with the variation within them.
Abstract
Centipedes are among the most ancient groups of venomous predatory arthropods. Extant species belong to five orders, but our understanding of the composition and evolution of centipede ...venoms is based almost exclusively on one order, Scolopendromorpha. To gain a broader and less biased understanding we performed a comparative proteotranscriptomic analysis of centipede venoms from all five orders, including the first venom profiles for the orders Lithobiomorpha, Craterostigmomorpha, and Geophilomorpha. Our results reveal an astonishing structural diversity of venom components, with 93 phylogenetically distinct protein and peptide families. Proteomically-annotated gene trees of these putative toxin families show that centipede venom composition is highly dynamic across macroevolutionary timescales, with numerous gene duplications as well as functional recruitments and losses of toxin gene families. Strikingly, not a single family is found in the venoms of representatives of all five orders, with 67 families being unique for single orders. Ancestral state reconstructions reveal that centipede venom originated as a simple cocktail comprising just four toxin families, with very little compositional evolution happening during the approximately 50 My before the living orders had diverged. Venom complexity then increased in parallel within the orders, with scolopendromorphs evolving particularly complex venoms. Our results show that even venoms composed of toxins evolving under the strong constraint of negative selection can have striking evolutionary plasticity on the compositional level. We show that the functional recruitments and losses of toxin families that shape centipede venom arsenals are not concentrated early in their evolutionary history, but happen frequently throughout.
Centipede envenomation (Chilopoda): Case report Haddad Junior, Vidal; Amorim, Paulo Cezar Haddad de; Cruz, Carolina Rassi da ...
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical,
01/2022, Volume:
55
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Centipedes are venomous arthropods that have an elongated body, divided into many segments, presenting a pair of legs in each segment, adapted pairs of paws that simulate fangs and inject venom ...causing intense pain, with local erythema and edema, and rarely, blisters and skin necrosis. We present the case of a young woman pricked on her upper lip with intense swelling and local pain and discuss the real danger of envenomation and the therapeutic measures that should be taken.
The genus Polyporogaster Verhoeff, 1899 and the species Polyporogaster porosa (Sseliwanoff, 1881) is new to the fauna of Tajikistan; while Pachymerium ferrugineum (C.L. Koch, 1835) to the Khatlon ...Region, Krateraspis meinerti (Sseliwanoff, 1881) to the Districts of Republican Subordination; Bothriogaster signata (Kessler, 1874) to the Sughd Region and the Districts of Republican Subordination; Scolopendra canidens Newport, 1844 to the Districts of Republican Subordination and the Khatlon Region; Australobius magnus (Trotzina, 1894) is formally specified for the Khatlon Region and the Districts of Republican Subordination for the first time. The first list of the chilopod species is provided: 22 species in 14 genera, 8 families and 4 orders.
On isolated islands, large arthropods can play an important functional role in ecosystem dynamics. On the Norfolk Islands group, South Pacific, we monitored the diet and foraging activity of an ...endemic chilopod, the Phillip Island centipede (Cormocephalus coynei), and used a stable isotope mixing model to estimate dietary proportions. Phillip Island centipede diet is represented by vertebrate animals (48%) and invertebrates (52%), with 30.5% consisting of squamates, including the Lord Howe Island skink (Oligosoma lichenigera) and Günther’s island gecko (Christinus guentheri); 7.9% consisting of black-winged petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis) nestlings; and 9.6% consisting of marine fishes scavenged from regurgitated seabird meals. Centipede predation was the principal source of petrel nestling mortality, with annual rates of predation varying between 11.1% and 19.6% of nestlings. This means that 2,109–3,724 black-winged petrel nestlings may be predated by centipedes annually. Petrels produce a single offspring per year; therefore, predation of nestlings by centipedes represents total breeding failure for a pair in a given year. Our work demonstrates that arthropods can play a leading role in influencing vertebrate reproductive output and modifying trophic structures and nutrient flow in island ecosystems.
Currently, new antimicrobial molecules extracted or obtained by natural sources, could be a valide alternative to traditional antibiotics. Most of these molecules are represented by antimicrobial ...peptides (AMPs), which are essential compounds of insect, arachnids and centipedes venom. AMPs, due to their strong effectiveness, low resistance rates and peculiar mode of action, seem to have all the suitable features to be a powerful weapon against several bacteria, especially considering the increasing antibiotic-resistance phenomena. The present literature review focuses on the antibacterial activity of bee, wasp, ant, scorpion, spider and scolopendra crude venom and of their main biological active compounds. After a brief overview of each animal and venom use in folkloristic medicine, this review reports, in a comprehensive table, the results obtained by the most relevant and recent researches carried out on the antibacterial activity of different venom and their AMPs. For each considered study, the table summarizes data concerning minimal inhibitory concentration values, minimal bactericidal concentration values, the methods employed, scientific name and common names and provenience of animal species from which the crude venom and its respective compounds were obtained.
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