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Resin exudation and resinicolous communities on Araucaria humboldtensis in New Caledonia

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Abstract

Conifers of the endemic species Araucaria humboldtensis on Mont Humboldt in New Caledonia exhibit extensive resin exudation. The resin flows of these threatened trees are here shown to be induced by two beetle species, which bore into branches and branchlets, leading to abundant outpouring of resin, which gradually solidifies into often drop-shaped resin bodies. The exudate is colonized by a resinicolous and likely insect-vectored ascomycete, Resinogalea humboldtensis, which is only known from Mont Humboldt. The fungus grows into fresh resin and eventually develops ascomata on the surface of solidifying resin. The solidified resin is also colonized by another fungus, a dematiaceous hyphomycete. Based on protein coding (CO1, CAD, ArgK) and ribosomal (LSU) genes, the larger branch-boring beetle is a weevil of the tribe Araucariini, which represents the sister group of all other cossonine weevils. The smaller beetle species belongs to the longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae). The strong host specificity of the Araucariini, along with the occurrence of two unique fungi, suggests that the resin-associated community is native and has evolved on the endemic conifer host. The formation of large amber deposits indicates massive resin production in the past, but the environmental triggers of exudation in Mesozoic and Cenozoic ecosystems remain unclear. Our observations from Mont Humboldt support the notion that the occurrences of small drop-shaped amber pieces in Triassic to Miocene amber deposits were linked to ancient insect infestations.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jérôme Munzinger (Montpellier) for help in the preparation of our field work in New Caledonia and Guillermo Kuschel (Auckland) for advice in the identification of the beetles. Stefano Castelli and Guido Roghi (Padova) kindly provided the images of the Triassic amber droplets. Fieldwork and collection in southern New Caledonia were kindly permitted by the Direction de l’Environnement (Province Sud), permit number 17778 delivered in November 2011. Partial support for fieldwork was provided to V.P. by grant OSUR (Univ. Rennes 1) from program AO1.P4 in 2011. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geobiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Christina Beimforde, Leyla J. Seyfullah & Alexander R. Schmidt

  2. CNRS UMR 6118 Géosciences and OSUR, Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France

    Vincent Perrichot

  3. Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Kerstin Schmidt

  4. Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 7, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Jouko Rikkinen

  5. Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Jouko Rikkinen

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  1. Christina Beimforde
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Correspondence to Alexander R. Schmidt.

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Beimforde, C., Seyfullah, L.J., Perrichot, V. et al. Resin exudation and resinicolous communities on Araucaria humboldtensis in New Caledonia. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 11, 495–505 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-016-9475-3

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