Le Guen Roger, Corbara Bruno, Rossi Vivien, Azémar Frédéric, Dejean Alain
Panacoco SARL, 31, rue Mauran, 82500 Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France.
CNRS, laboratoire « microorganismes, génome et environnement », (UMR CNRS 6023), université Blaise-Pascal, complexe scientifique des Cézeaux, 63177 Aubière cedex, France; Université Clermont Auvergne, université Blaise-Pascal, LMGE, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
C R Biol. 2015 Apr;338(4):255-9. doi: 10.1016/j.crvi.2015.02.002. Epub 2015 Mar 4.
We show that in French Guiana the large carton nests of Azteca chartifex, a territorially-dominant arboreal dolichoderine ant, are protected from bird attacks when this ant lives in association with Polybia rejecta, an epiponine social wasp. Because A. chartifex colonies are well known for their ability to divert army ant raids from the base of their host tree so that they protect their associated wasps from these raids, there is a reciprocal benefit for these two partners, permitting us to call this association a mutualism. We also show that P. rejecta nests are significantly less often attacked by birds than are those of two compared epiponine social wasp species. Furthermore, experimentation using a standardized protocol demonstrated the significantly higher aggressiveness of P. rejecta compared to seven other wasp species. We conclude that the efficacious protection of its associated ant nests is likely due to the extreme aggressiveness of P. rejecta.
我们发现，在法属圭亚那，当领地占主导地位的树栖长节蚁属蚂蚁Azteca chartifex与胡蜂科群居黄蜂Polybia rejecta共生时，其大型硬纸盒状巢穴能免受鸟类攻击。由于Azteca chartifex蚁群以能够将行军蚁的袭击从其宿主树基部引开而闻名，从而保护与其共生的黄蜂免受这些袭击，这两个伙伴之间存在互惠互利的关系，使我们可以将这种共生关系称为互利共生。我们还发现，与另外两种胡蜂科群居黄蜂相比，Polybia rejecta的巢穴受到鸟类攻击的频率要低得多。此外，使用标准化方案进行的实验表明，与其他七种黄蜂相比，Polybia rejecta的攻击性明显更高。我们得出结论，对其共生蚂蚁巢穴的有效保护可能是由于Polybia rejecta的极端攻击性。
