Olfactory responses of the leaf-cutting ants <i>Atta cephalotes</i> (L.) and <i>Acromyrmex octospinosus</i> (Reich) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the laboratory

Littledyke, M.; Cherrett, J. M.

doi:10.1017/s0007485300007355

Cited by 31 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This selectivity has been described elsewhere in relation to feeding strategies and relative numbers of host plants (Cherrett 1968, Rockwood 1973, Fowler and Stiles 1980, physical and chemical deterrents or arrestants (Cherrett 1972a, b, Gamboa 1975, Littledyke and Cherrett 1978, the welfare of the fungus (Martin 1970, Mudd andBateman 1979), and ready availability of plant species to foragers early in the life ofthe colony (Fowler 1982). Individuals of many other species had one telltale semicircle clipped from a leaf, suggesting that these plants had been sampled by A. cephalotes and subsequently rejected.…”

Section: Species Abundances and Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Leaf‐Cutting Ant Herbivory in Successional and Agricultural Tropical Ecosystems

Blanton¹,

Ewel²

1985

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Ecological Society of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ecology.Abstract. Herbivory by Atta cephalotes was measured in four plant communities of different complexity in Costa Rica. The four communities were a monoculture of cassava {Manihot esculenta) and three diverse assemblages, each 1.5 yr old: (1) successional vegetation, unmodified by the investigators; (2) imitation of succession, a community of investigator-introduced species designed to mimic the unmodified succession; and (3) enriched succession, a successional vegetation that the investigators had augmented by propagule inputs. Each ant colony had access to all four community types simultaneously. The average herbivory rate (daily cutting of leaf per square metre of ground, all treatments combined) was ~ 150 mg (or 38 cm2).In communities with greater leaf area index, structural complexity, and species richness, A. ceph? alotes cut lower portions of total leaf area. Before harvest of the cassava monoculture, the herbivory rate of A. cephalotes was 87.9 cm2m~2d_1 in the monoculture, 21.4 in the imitation, 14.7 in the succession, and 6.8 in the enriched succession community. These amounts represented 0.3% of total leaf area in the monoculture and a mean of 0.03% of total leaf area in the three complex ecosystems. Cassava, which occurred in three of the four communities, was attacked most heavily (per unit leaf area) in the imitation successional community, least heavily in the enriched succession, and at intermediate intensity in the monoculture. In response to loss of their preferred forage (cassava) through harvesting by humans, the ants cut more leaf tissue in the three species-rich communities, especially the imitation. As cassava resprouted in the monoculture, A. cephalotes' rate of attack on the three diverse treatments reurned to preharvest levels.Atta cephalotes cut only 17 of 332 available plant species. They cut proportionally more woody than herbaceous species, more introduced species than natural colonizers, and species with belowaverage water contents. Plant relative abundance alone did not determine host plant selection, but most of the attacked species were cut in proportion to their total leaf area.

show abstract

Section: Species Abundances and Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Leaf‐Cutting Ant Herbivory in Successional and Agricultural Tropical Ecosystems

Blanton¹,

Ewel²

1985

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This evacuation response may be a potent way to reduce the costs of predation, but is not a great or novel sensory capability. The ant Cataglyphis fortis can smell crumbs of dry cookies more than 3 m away ( Wolf & Wehner, 2000 ), and other species of ants can detect trace odours in the environment ( Littledyke & Cherrett, 1978;Roces, 1990Roces, , 1994. Why have other prey ant species not been observed to evacuate nests in advance of army ant raids?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serial monodomy in ants: an antipredator strategy?

McGlynn¹

2007

Ecological Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. The term serial monodomy is used to describe a life-history phenomenon in social insects. Serially monodomous colonies maintain multiple nests for their exclusive use, but only occupy one nest at a time.2. The hypothesis that colony odours mediate nest relocation decisions was tested in the serially monodomous species Aphaenogaster araneoides from Central America. Odour extracts of colony members were created using a non-polar solvent.3. Colonies strongly avoided reoccupying nests treated with colony odour extracts, while control colonies often returned to nests subjected to solvent-only control. Behavioural observations indicated that A. araneoides colonies are capable of detecting army ant ( Eciton burchellii ) raids up to 1.4 m from the raiding front, with several seconds to evacuate nests.4. It is proposed that the function of serial monodomy in A. araneoides is the reduction of nest odour to enhance detection of predaceous army ants. Serial monodomy may be a widespread but undocumented mode of nesting where army ants occur in tropical and subtropical climates.

show abstract

“…Although M4MP2C acts as an attractant, naturally occurring ' food odours' also attract leaf-cutting ants (Littledyke & Cherrett, 1978) (Table III). Most of the early studies on the attractiveness of M4MP2C examined its effect on sucrose-impregnated filter-paper discs with no attractive ' food odour' of their own.…”

Section: Non-additivity Of Attractantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field evaluation of methyl 4-methylpyrrole-2-carboxylate, an ant trail pheromone, as a component of baits for leaf-cutting ant (Hymenoptera Formicidae) control

Robinson

Jutsum

Cherrett

et al. 1982

Bull. Entomol. Res.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the laboratory, the trail pheromone methyl 4-methylpyrrole-2-carboxylate (M4MP2C) when added to bait particles acts as an attractant to leaf-cutting ants, increasing the pick-up of pheromone-impregnated bait compared with plain bait. However, field trials in Trinidad, Brazil and Paraguay were disappointing. Bait with and without pheromone was scattered in the foraging area, and the proportion of each taken to the nest by Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, A. cephalotes (L.) and Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich) was assessed. In only one of the experiments (A. octospinosus foraging bait with 50 p.p.m. of M4MP2C) was increased pick-up detected. Four reasons for this are suggested: (1) small pheromone effects are difficult to measure as scattering bait produced a patchy distribution and heterogeneous replicates, whilst choice trials on plain and pheromone-impregnated bait placed close together were difficult to interpret, as the pheromone probably excited the ants, increasing pick-up of plain bait; (2) A. octospinosus workers, the subject of detailed studies, were less sensitive to M4MP2C in the field than in the laboratory; (3) as the pheromone only attracts, it does not produce a comparable increase in the number of pieces picked up, contact/pick-up ratios of sucroseimpregnated discs increasing from 2 26 at 5 pg pheromone to 16-39 at 50 ng; and (4) soyabean oil, citrus-pulp extract and orange juice were found to be attractive, and when pheromone was added, its effects were not additive. Early studies used sucrose-impregnated paper discs, and as these have no attractants of their own, the addition of M4MP2C had a more marked effect. It is concluded that M4MP2C is not a cost-effective addition to current leaf-cutting ant baits which possess food odours, a much cheaper source of attractiveness.

show abstract

Olfactory responses of the leaf-cutting ants Atta cephalotes (L.) and Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the laboratory

Cited by 31 publications

References 16 publications

Leaf‐Cutting Ant Herbivory in Successional and Agricultural Tropical Ecosystems

Leaf‐Cutting Ant Herbivory in Successional and Agricultural Tropical Ecosystems

Serial monodomy in ants: an antipredator strategy?

Field evaluation of methyl 4-methylpyrrole-2-carboxylate, an ant trail pheromone, as a component of baits for leaf-cutting ant (Hymenoptera Formicidae) control

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About