Effect of Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota Removal on the Survival and Development of Bryophagous Beetles

Abstract

Abstract Insect microbiota may play a wide range of roles in host physiology. Among others, microbiota can be involved in diet processing or protection against pathogens, both of which are potentially important in bryophagous (moss-feeding) insects, which survive on extreme diets and live in the stable environment of moss clumps suitable for the growth of fungi and bacteria. We treated Cytilus sericeus (Forster, 1771) (Coleoptera: Byrrhidae) as a model organism with bactericides and fungicides to test the effect of bacterial and fungal removal on egg hatching and larval development. Furthermore, we supplied larvae with adult feces to determine whether feces is a source of beneficial microbiota or pathogens. Bactericides had a positive effect, but fungicides had a negative effect on beetle fitness, both of which manifested during egg hatching. The feces did not play a positive role. Our conclusions indicate the presence of beneficial fungal microbiota associated with eggs but not transmitted through feces. Based on preliminary cultivation and fungicide tests, Fusarium or Penicillium may be important for suppressing pathogens, but their exact role needs to be further studied.