PT Journal
AU Dejean, A
   Corbara, B
TI Reactions by army ant workers to nestmates having had contact with sympatric ant species
SO Comptes Rendus Biologies
JI C. R. Biol.
PY 2014
BP 642
EP 645
VL 337
IS 11
DE Army ants Antipredation Colony-mate recognition Eciton Transferring cuticular compounds; Eciton; Formicidae
AB It was recently shown that Pheidole megacephala colonies (an invasive species originating from Africa) counterattack when raided by the army ant, Eciton burchellii. The subsequent contact permits Pheidole cuticular compounds (that constitute the "colony odour") to be transferred onto the raiding Eciton, which are then not recognised by their colony-mates and killed. Using a simple method for transferring cuticular compounds, we tested if this phenomenon occurs for Neotropical ants. Eciton workers rubbed with ants from four sympatric species were released among their colony-mates. Individuals rubbed with Solenopsis saevissima or Camponotus blandus workers were attacked, but not those rubbed with Atta sexdens, Pheidole fallax or with colony-mates (control lot). So, the chemicals of certain sympatric ant species, but not others, trigger intra-colonial aggressiveness in Eciton. We conclude that prey-ant chemicals might have played a role in the evolution of army ant predatory behaviour, likely influencing prey specialization in certain cases.
ER