Agbogba C
Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Faculté des Sciences: Biologie animale, Dakar, Sénégal, South Africa.
Behav Processes. 1994 Jun;32(1):47-52. doi: 10.1016/0376-6357(94)90026-4. Epub 2002 May 28.
In the Ponerine Pachycondyla caffraria the behaviour of workers is independent of age. They leave the nest to forage a few days after eclosion, and some specialization appears in the young foragers. For the first five days, the callow workers stay in the nest chamber; they remain immobile, or groom themselves, or lick the larvae and pupae, which they transport from one part of the nest to another. Six or seven days after eclosion, some of the young workers remain inside the nest and occupy themselves with inside labour, while others leave the nest to forage, and collect sugar water or hunt for prey. The frequency of some behavioural acts which are performed by the young inside workers increases or decreases with age.
在猛蚁亚科的卡氏厚结猛蚁中，工蚁的行为与年龄无关。它们羽化几天后就离开巢穴觅食，并且在年轻的觅食者中出现了一些分工。在最初的五天里，刚羽化的工蚁待在巢室里；它们保持不动，或者自我梳理，或者舔舐幼虫和蛹，并将它们从巢穴的一个地方转移到另一个地方。羽化六七天后，一些年轻工蚁留在巢内从事内勤工作，而其他工蚁则离开巢穴觅食，采集糖水或捕食猎物。年轻的内勤工蚁所表现出的一些行为动作的频率会随着年龄的增长而增加或减少。
