The Usazoros hubbardi Caudell (Insecta: Zoraptera) microbiota: Characterizing the bacterial and fungal associates of a rare and cryptic insect

Zoraptera are an elusive insect order with relatively few species. Current phylogenetic analysis places them as sister to all other Polyneopterans, suggesting an ancient evolutionary origin. Ecologically, Zoraptera live semi-socially in colonies in rotting wood. Because they require a particular stage of rot, Zoraptera move to new logs when their current logs become too rotten. This results in metapopulation dynamics. Their combination of ancient evolutionary origin, social behavior and metapopulation structure make Zoraptera an interesting system in which to study insect-associated microbiomes.

Through 16S and ITS sequencing, we characterized the whole-body microbiomes of Usazoros hubbardi Caudell from 18 colonies. We found that Zoraptera microbiomes vary significantly from the microbiomes of their environment. Further, while there is no significant difference between adult and juvenile microbiomes, microbiomes do become increasingly different with geographic distance between colonies. This suggests that dispersal-limitation plays a role in structuring Zoraptera microbiomes across Zoraptera metapopulations.