PT Journal
AU Dejean, A
   Azémar, F
   Roux, O
TI An invasive ant species able to counterattack marabunta raids
SO Comptes Rendus Biologies
JI C. R. Biol.
PY 2014
BP 475
EP 479
VL 337
IS 7-8
DE Antipredation; Army ants; Colony mate recognition; Eciton; Pheidole; aggression; ant; article; bioassay; Eciton burchellii; Eciton hamatum; emulsion; insect society; mass fragmentography; Neotropics; nonhuman; Pheidole megacephala
AB In the Neotropics where it was introduced, the invasive ant Pheidole megacephala counterattacked raids by the army ants Eciton burchellii or E. hamatum. The Eciton workers that returned to their bivouac were attacked and spread-eagled and most of them killed by their outgoing colony mates. Little by little the zone where returning and outgoing Eciton workers encountered one another moved away from the Pheidole nest which was no longer attacked, so that most of the colony was spared. Using a water-based technique rounded out by bioassays, we show that Pheidole compounds were transferred onto the Eciton cuticle during the counterattacks, so that outgoing workers do not recognize returning colony mates, likely perceived as potential prey. Because P. megacephala is an introduced African species, this kind of protection, which cannot be the result of coevolutive processes, corresponds to a kind of by-product due to its aggressiveness during colony defence. © 2014 Académie des sciences.
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