| Title |
Nesting habits shape feeding preferences and predatory behavior in an ant genus
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
The Science of Nature, February 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00114-014-1159-1 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Alain Dejean, Nicolas Labrière, Axel Touchard, Frédéric Petitclerc, Olivier Roux |
| Abstract |
We tested if nesting habits influence ant feeding preferences and predatory behavior in the monophyletic genus Pseudomyrmex (Pseudomyrmecinae) which comprises terrestrial and arboreal species, and, among the latter, plant-ants which are obligate inhabitants of myrmecophytes (i.e., plants sheltering so-called plant-ants in hollow structures). A cafeteria experiment revealed that the diet of ground-nesting Pseudomyrmex consists mostly of prey and that of arboreal species consists mostly of sugary substances, whereas the plant-ants discarded all the food we provided. Workers forage solitarily, detecting prey from a distance thanks to their hypertrophied eyes. Approach is followed by antennal contact, seizure, and the manipulation of the prey to sting it under its thorax (next to the ventral nerve cord). Arboreal species were not more efficient at capturing prey than were ground-nesting species. A large worker size favors prey capture. Workers from ground- and arboreal-nesting species show several uncommon behavioral traits, each known in different ant genera from different subfamilies: leaping abilities, the use of surface tension strengths to transport liquids, short-range recruitment followed by conflicts between nestmates, the consumption of the prey's hemolymph, and the retrieval of entire prey or pieces of prey after having cut it up. Yet, we never noted group ambushing. We also confirmed that Pseudomyrmex plant-ants live in a kind of food autarky as they feed only on rewards produced by their host myrmecophyte, or on honeydew produced by the hemipterans they attend and possibly on the fungi they cultivate. |
X Demographics
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Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 55 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 1 | 2% |
| Czechia | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 53 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 12 | 22% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 9 | 16% |
| Researcher | 8 | 15% |
| Student > Bachelor | 5 | 9% |
| Student > Master | 4 | 7% |
| Other | 6 | 11% |
| Unknown | 11 | 20% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 25 | 45% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 7% |
| Environmental Science | 4 | 7% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 3 | 5% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 1 | 2% |
| Other | 4 | 7% |
| Unknown | 14 | 25% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 March 2014.
All research outputs
#19,201,293
of 23,794,258 outputs
Outputs from The Science of Nature
#1,978
of 2,195 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#162,820
of 222,390 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Science of Nature
#35
of 43 outputs
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