Wetterer James K
Muscum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Oecologia. 1995 Dec;104(4):409-415. doi: 10.1007/BF00341337.
I compare forager size and foraging ecology of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex coronatus (Fabricius) with published data on three other leaf-cutter species in Costa Rica, Atta cephalotes (L.), Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich), and Acromyrmex volcanus Wheeler. Intra-and interspecific differences in forager size in these leaf-cutting ants appear to reflect the economics of harvesting different preferred resources. Ac. coronatus colonies have relatively small foragers (mean mass=3.4±1.4 mg) that cut almost exclusively the thin, soft leaves and other parts of small herbaceous plants. Similarly, small A. cephalotes colonies have small foragers (3.3±1.0 mg) that attack the leaves of small herbaceous plants. In contrast, mature A. cephalotes colonies have a wider sizerange of foragers (7.3±4.1 mg) that primarily attack the leaves of trees, with larger foragers cutting thicker, tougher leaves. In A. cephalotes, the match of forager size to leaf type (both ontogenetically and behaviorally) increases foraging efficiency. Extreme forager polymorphism in mature A. cephalotes colonies appears to broaden the diversity of tree species that they can exploit efficiently. Ac. octospinosus and Ac. volcanus both have large, relatively monomorphic foragers (13.3±4.2 mg and 30.6±4.3 mg, respectively) that typically scavenge for pieces of fallen vegetation, such as dead leaves, fruit, and flowers, in addition to cutting herbs. The large foragers of Ac. octospinosus and Ac. volcanus appear to be well suited as generalist foragers, able to cut or collect any desirable vegetation encountered. Ac. coronatus is similar to A. cephalotes in other ways. Both Ac. coronatus and A. cephalotes establish and maintain cleared trunk trails for foraging, and both have minima workers that "hitchhike" on the loads carried by foragers, apparently serving to protect the larger foragers from attack by phorid flies. Trunk trails and hitchhikers are not known for Ac. octospinosus and Ac. volcanus. That A. coronatus and A. cephalotes show little overlap in geographic distribution within Costa Rica may relate both to differences in habitat requirements and to interspecific competition.
我将切叶蚁冠冕切叶蚁（Acromyrmex coronatus，法布里修斯命名）的觅食者大小和觅食生态与已发表的关于哥斯达黎加其他三种切叶蚁的数据进行了比较，这三种切叶蚁分别是：切叶蚁属的大头切叶蚁（Atta cephalotes，林奈命名）、刺切叶蚁（Acromyrmex octospinosus，赖克命名）以及火山切叶蚁（Acromyrmex volcanus，惠勒命名）。这些切叶蚁在种内和种间觅食者大小的差异似乎反映了收获不同偏好资源的经济性。冠冕切叶蚁群落的觅食者相对较小（平均质量 = 3.4 ± 1.4毫克），它们几乎只切割薄而柔软的叶子以及小型草本植物的其他部分。同样，小型大头切叶蚁群落的觅食者也较小（3.3 ± 1.0毫克），它们攻击小型草本植物的叶子。相比之下，成熟的大头切叶蚁群落有更广泛大小范围的觅食者（7.3 ± 4.1毫克），它们主要攻击树木的叶子，较大的觅食者切割更厚、更坚韧的叶子。在大头切叶蚁中，觅食者大小与叶子类型的匹配（在个体发育和行为上）提高了觅食效率。成熟的大头切叶蚁群落中极端的觅食者多态性似乎拓宽了它们能够有效利用的树木物种的多样性。刺切叶蚁和火山切叶蚁都有大型、相对单态的觅食者（分别为13.3 ± 4.2毫克和30.6 ± 4.3毫克），除了切割草本植物外，它们通常还 scavenge for pieces of fallen vegetation（收集掉落的植被碎片），如枯叶、果实和花朵。刺切叶蚁和火山切叶蚁的大型觅食者似乎非常适合作为通才觅食者，能够切割或收集遇到的任何所需植被。冠冕切叶蚁在其他方面与大头切叶蚁相似。冠冕切叶蚁和大头切叶蚁都建立并维护用于觅食的清理过的树干小径，并且都有最小型的工蚁，它们“搭便车”在觅食者携带的负载上，显然是为了保护较大的觅食者免受蚤蝇的攻击。刺切叶蚁和火山切叶蚁不存在树干小径和搭便车者的情况。冠冕切叶蚁和大头切叶蚁在哥斯达黎加的地理分布几乎没有重叠，这可能与栖息地要求的差异以及种间竞争有关。
原文中“scavenge for pieces of fallen vegetation”直译为“ scavenge for pieces of fallen vegetation”不太准确，推测可能是“收集掉落的植被碎片”之类意思，但不确定准确含义，所以保留英文部分。
