Dietary niche partitioning and convergent gut microbiota in sympatric Vespa
Caojinge Li, Tantan Gao, Lifeng Meng, Jiaxing Huang · 2026
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Description
Caojinge Li and co-authors dissect in 2026 how four hornet species living side by side divide their food and, in parallel, host different gut microbe communities. The team combined family trees from a mitochondrial gene, DNA barcoding of gut contents for diet, and bacterial profiling of the gut itself. The four species split into two evolutionary branches, and their habits matched that split.
One branch leaned on beech-order plants with differing insect prey between its two species, while the other branch favored bee prey and certain flowering plants. Within branches, finer splits appeared: one species hunted honeybees while its cousin took solitary bees, easing competition. Predicted microbe functions also differed by branch. The authors caution that larger samples must confirm the host-diet-microbe alignment.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Caojinge Li, Tantan Gao, Lifeng Meng, Jiaxing Huang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |