Avoiding predation by army ants: Defensive behaviours of three ant species of the genus Camponotus

LaMon, Brent; Topoff, Howard

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(81)80060-7

Cited by 50 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Alternatively, laboratory colonies of L. congruus confronted with invasion by M. intrudens easily escaped from their nests after a brief episode of fighting only at the nest entrance (Yamaguchi, unpublished data). Such prompt nest evacuation is rather common among weak ant species, who thereby save their own colonies against raids by their predator (Wilson, 1976;LaMon, 1981;Droual, 1983Droual, , 1984. The high frequency of nest recolonization in the ant communities observed in the present study is a consequence of such species interaction between a strong late-comer and a weak early occupant.…”

Section: Congruusmentioning

confidence: 49%

Interspecific interference for nest sites betweenLeptothorax congruus andMonomorium intrudens

Yamaguchi

1992

Ins. Soc

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SummaryInterference competition for nest sites was studied in ant communities dominated by Leptothorax congruus in the suburbs of Tokyo, central Japan. At the two study plots located in a deciduous wood and in grassland, L. eongruus constructed nests in dead branches or stems of dead grasses. Approximately 50 % of the nests were physically broken within a year, suggesting that they were very fragile. Of totals of 67 and 91 nests ofL. congruus marked at the two sites, 12 (17.5 %) and 53 (58.2 %) nests, respectively, were replaced by other ant species (Monomorium intrudens, Crematogaster brunnea teranishii, Camponotus itoi and Lasius sp.) which were common in both habitats. Field observation suggested that, among these ants, M. intrudens was a major competitor usurping the nests of L. congruus by aggressive invasion.

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Section: Congruusmentioning

confidence: 49%

Interspecific interference for nest sites betweenLeptothorax congruus andMonomorium intrudens

Yamaguchi

1992

Ins. Soc

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“…By analogy, small workers in polymorphic red wood ants were demonstrated to be supreme defenders against small, intranidal myrmecophilous parasites (Parmentier et al 2015). The large P. conradti workers might be more suited to repel large arthropods or vertebrates in parallel with the defense specialization of large workers in polymorphic ant colonies against large enemies (Lamon and Topoff 1981;Hölldobler and Wilson 1990;Batchelor et al 2012). There is a vast amount of literature that stresses the specialization of morphologically distinct worker castes in nest defense (Jandt et al 2013;Tian and Zhou 2014), but here, we argue that morphologically distinct ant species can be analogously specialized in different tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An apparent mutualism between Afrotropical ant species sharing the same nest

Parmentier

Yeo

Dekoninck

et al. 2017

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Social insects have a highly developed nestmate and species recognition system that is quite effective at keeping out unwanted intruders. Rare cases of Bparabiosis,^however, are known in some ants where two species apparently live peacefully alongside each other within the same nest. Here, we report on such an association between the tiny Afrotropical ant Strumigenys maynei and the large ant Platythyrea conradti. We demonstrated that both ants peacefully share the same arboreal nests in spite of the presence of clearly distinct nestmate recognition cues. Because of the large size differences, we hypothesized that each of the two species would benefit from specializing in carrying out particular tasks, in analogy to the size-related division of labor observed in species with size-polymorphic workers. In line with this theory, we found that the tiny ant S. maynei was highly efficient at nest defense against intranidal arthropods and alien ant intruders, whereas the large ant P. conradti was highly skilled in nest engineering. We argue that the described association is likely mutualistic, as P. conradti clearly benefited from the supreme defense capabilities of S. maynei, and that, conversely, S. maynei took advantage of small prey thriving in the organic nest material collected by P. conradti. Significance statementAssociations between social insects are typically parasitic in nature. A few cases, however, are known of beneficial associations between social insects. Here, we report such a rare association between two Afrotropical species that share the same nest even though they lack matching colony odors. The large ant Platythyrea conradti benefited from the presence of Strumigenys maynei as this tiny, but highly aggressive, ant was much more efficient in attacking intranidal and extranidal enemies. S. maynei in turn took advantage of P. conradti as this ant constructs a unique nest which attracts suitable prey.

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“…However, the lower species numbers in traps after D. laevigatus had visited the squares could also be related to the mass raids of three other ant species in the same time frame. Most prey ant species seem to flee into the vegetation (Hirosawa et al 2000;Berghoff et al 2002a) or to related nests (LaMon and Topoff 1981;Droual 1984) during a raid, which can temporarily reduce ant abundance in a raided area. The use of satellite nests, also recorded for three of the five most common ant species in this study (Table 3), can thus provide refuges during army ant attacks (Droual 1984;Perfecto 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the hypogaeic army ant Dorylus (Dichthadia) laevigatus on tropical arthropod communities

2003

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The majority of army ant species forage hypogaeically. Due to the difficulties in observing these ants, their potential influence on hypogaeic and epigaeic arthropod communities has not yet been investigated. As the first hypogaeically foraging army ant studied in detail, we attracted Dorylus laevigatus to areas monitored for their arthropod diversity. Here, for the first time, the same sites were sampled before and after an army ant raid. Furthermore, interactions between D. laevigatus and the five most common ground-nesting ant species were noted and their life-history traits compared, allowing first inferences on possible mechanisms of their coexistence. The occurrence of D. laevigatus within a study plot had no evident effect on the number of arthropod taxa or individuals collected with epigaeic and hypogaeic pitfall traps. Likewise, juvenile arthropods, which are less mobile and thus are potentially easier prey for D. laevigatus, showed no differences in their collected numbers before and after the army ant had visited a plot. However, significantly fewer ant species were collected with hypogaeic traps after D. laevigatus had been within the study plots, indicating a possible predation of D. laevigatus especially on two Pseudolasius and one Pheidole species. The five most common ground-foraging ant species demonstrated their ability to avoid, kill, and even prey on the army ant. The reaction of Lophomyrmex bedoti towards D. laevigatus indicated the former to be a potential prey species, while Pachycondyla sp. 2 showed signs of "enemy specification." Odontoponera diversus and O. transversa actively preyed on D. laevigatus, while Pheidologeton affinis fought with D. laevigatus over resources. All ant species could co-occur with D. laevigatus at palm oil baits. Adding to the differences detected in previous studies between D. laevigatus and epigaeically foraging army ant species, the occurrence of this hypogaeic army ant seems to have less devastating effects on arthropod community compositions than those of epigaeically mass raiding species.

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Avoiding predation by army ants: Defensive behaviours of three ant species of the genus Camponotus

Cited by 50 publications

References 12 publications

Interspecific interference for nest sites betweenLeptothorax congruus andMonomorium intrudens

Interspecific interference for nest sites betweenLeptothorax congruus andMonomorium intrudens

An apparent mutualism between Afrotropical ant species sharing the same nest

Influence of the hypogaeic army ant Dorylus (Dichthadia) laevigatus on tropical arthropod communities

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