Mayer V E, Lauth J, Orivel J
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, Division of Structural and Functional Botany, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
CNRS, UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, INRA, Université de Guyane, Université des Antilles, Campus Agronomique, BP316, 97379 Kourou Cedex, France.
Insectes Soc. 2017;64(3):365-371. doi: 10.1007/s00040-017-0554-y. Epub 2017 Mar 11.
The construction process and use of galleries by (Myrmicinae: Dolichoderinae) inhabiting (Salicaceae) were compared with (Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini) galleries on (Chrysobalanaceae). Though the two ant species are phylogenetically distant, the gallery structure seems to be surprisingly similar and structurally convergent: both are pierced with numerous holes and both ant species use Chaetothyrialean fungi to strengthen the gallery walls. is known to use the galleries for prey capture and whether this is also the case for was tested in field experiments. We placed workers as potential prey/threat on the galleries and recorded the behaviour of both ant species. We found considerable behavioural differences between them: was quicker and more efficient at capture than was . While most workers were captured after the first 5 min by , significantly fewer were captured by even after 20 min. Moreover, the captured were sometimes simply discarded and not taken to the nest by . As a consequence, the major function of the galleries built by may, therefore, be defense against intruders in contrast to which uses them mainly for prey capture. This may be due to a higher need for protein in compared to coccid-raising .
对栖息于杨柳科（Salicaceae）植物上的（蚁亚科：臭蚁亚科）的蚁道构建过程及使用情况，与金虎尾科（Chrysobalanaceae）植物上的（蚁亚科：火蚁族）的蚁道进行了比较。尽管这两种蚂蚁在系统发育上亲缘关系较远，但蚁道结构似乎惊人地相似且在结构上趋同：两者都布满了许多孔洞，且两种蚂蚁都利用刺盾炱目真菌来加固蚁道壁。已知利用蚁道捕捉猎物，此次通过野外实验测试了是否也如此。我们将工蚁作为潜在猎物/威胁放置在蚁道上，并记录了两种蚂蚁的行为。我们发现它们之间存在显著的行为差异：在捕捉猎物时比更快且更高效。虽然大多数工蚁在最初5分钟内就被捕获，但即使在20分钟后，被捕获的数量也明显更少。此外，被捕获的有时会被简单丢弃，而不会被带回巢穴。因此，与主要利用蚁道捕捉猎物的相比，构建蚁道的主要功能可能是防御入侵者。这可能是因为与饲养介壳虫的相比，对蛋白质有更高的需求。
