Ecologia do forrageio por Cyphomyrmex morschi Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) em vegetação de restinga no Sul do Brasil

Lopes, Benedito Córtes

doi:10.1590/s0101-81752007000100006

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…Based on the evidence presented in this study for the Mycetophylax genus and due to the fact that most basal Attini do not cut fresh material for the growth of their symbiotic fungi (Lopes, 2007), we believe that the main problem with rearing basal Attini in the laboratory is the loss of moisture. As the substrate offered for the growth of the fungus garden was accepted in this study by workers and was also accepted by other species (Sanhudo et al, 2008), we suggest that the method applied in this work may be adopted for the rearing of other basal Attini, as well as other ant species that are very much sensitive to moisture variation.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…It has several characteristics considered basal, such as presenting a monomorphic worker caste, not cutting fresh leaves but instead collecting dry plant matter, feces and insect carcasses to supply its symbiotic fungi, and the fact that it forms small colonies with around a dozen to a hundred workers (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990;Fernández-Marín et al, 2005;Lopes, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methodological remarks on rearing basal Attini ants in the laboratory for biological and evolutionary studies: overview of the genus Mycetophylax

2011

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Some studies require fresh biological material for their development. Ant colonies have been reared under laboratory conditions for scientific purposes, and several methodologies for leafcutter ants have been reported in the literature. However, these methods are not well adapted for rearing basal Attini. In this study, we proposed a methodology for rearing basal Attini species in the laboratory based on the evaluation of colonies of the genus Mycetophylax. The complete system consists of two round translucent polypropylene containers inserted one inside the other, where one serves as a chamber proper and the other as a foraging area. Both containers are sealed with their lids, protecting the environment against desiccation. From a total of 29 colonies collected in the field, 22 colonies survived for at least 30 weeks, and Mycetophylax morschi was the most adapted for rearing under laboratory conditions. The main problem with rearing basal Attini in the laboratory is the loss of moisture. Thus, the method applied here may be adopted for rearing other basal Attini, as well as other ant species very sensitive to moisture variation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodological remarks on rearing basal Attini ants in the laboratory for biological and evolutionary studies: overview of the genus Mycetophylax

2011

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“…O comportamento de forrageamento pode variar dentro de uma mesma espécie em função do ambiente e da capacidade de adaptação da formiga a estes (Lopes 2007). Em uma mesma colônia no laboratório, a estratégia de forrageamento pode ser alterada dependendo da planta explorada (Endringer 2015).…”

Section: Estratégias De Forrageamento Em Attiniunclassified

“…O comportamento de forrageamento pode variar dentro de uma mesma espécie em função do ambiente e da capacidade de adaptação da formiga a este (Lopes 2007). Algumas espécies de formigas cortadeiras são capazes de gerar redes de trilha altamente flexíveis, o que lhes permite maximizar o contínuo encontro de recursos palatáveis em ambientes onde ocorre rotatividade de plantas (Silva et al 2013).…”

Section: Flexibilidade Do Comportamento De Forrageamento Em Formigas unclassified

Plasticidade Do Comportamento De Forrageamento Em Formigas Cortadeiras

Viana-Bailez¹,

Endringer²

2016

Oecol. Aust.

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O comportamento de forrageamento em insetos sociais é uma atividade complexa que envolve um sistema auto-organizável e pode ser estudado em nível de indivíduo e de colônia. Na sociedade de formigas nem todos os indivíduos participam da coleta de alimento. As operárias que executam essa tarefa, frequentemente, são as mais velhas e de maior tamanho. Nas formigas da tribo Attini o forrageamento é um processo complexo que consiste na exploração do recurso alimentar envolvendo seleção, corte e transporte para o ninho. Essas formigas utilizam substratos variados para o desenvolvimento do fungo simbionte o qual fornece alimento à colônia. Os gêneros Atta e Acromyrmex, conhecidas como cortadeiras, possuem um padrão de forrageamento bem definido por meio de trilhas físicas e químicas. Nos gêneros basais normalmente não ocorre corte de vegetação viva, as operárias forrageiam individualmente, não possuem rotas de forrageamento estabelecidas e não existe fidelidade ao tipo de recurso coletado. Além dessas diferenças entre grupos, o comportamento de forrageamento pode também variar dentro de uma mesma espécie em função de fatores ambientais e da capacidade de adaptação das operárias. Outros fenômenos que fazem das atines um modelo interessante para o estudo do comportamento de forrageamento são o polimorfismo e o polietismo. Alguns estudos realizados com espécies de Atta demonstraram a existência de uma flexibilidade comportamental durante o forrageamento. Dentro desse contexto, essa revisão pretende discutir a capacidade de adaptação que estes insetos possuem para resolver problemas fazendo ajustes de seu comportamento tanto individual como coletivo e assim, adotar a estratégia mais conveniente para a colônia permitindo explorar eficientemente variadas fontes de recursos. Palavras-chave: Attini; estratégias de forrageamento; flexibilidade comportamental. ABSTRACT-PLASTICITY OF FORAGING BEHAVIOR IN LEAF-CUTTING ANTS The foraging behavior in social insects is a complex activity that involves a self-organizing system and can be studied at the individual or at the colony level. In the ant society, not all individuals participate in the gathering of food. The workers who perform this task are often older and larger ants. In Attini ants, the foraging is a complex process that involves selection, cutting and transport of food resources to the nest. These ants use several sources of food to develop the symbiotic fungus, which provides food to the colony. The genera Atta and Acromyrmex, known as leaf-cutter ant, have a well-defined pattern of foraging determined by physical and chemical trails. In the basal genera the worker ants forage alone, hardly ever cut fresh vegetation, do not follow trails and there is no fidelity to the resource gathered. Besides the differences between groups, foraging behavior may be different in the same specie as consequence of environmental factors and the adaptability of workers. Other phenomena that make the Attines an interesting model to study foraging behavior are the polymorphism and polyethism. S...

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“…A series of recent natural-history studies markedly enriched our understanding of the life-histories of basal attine ants (Weber, 1956;Murakami and Higashi, 1997;Mueller and Wcislo, 1998;Leal and Oliveira, 2000;Schultz et al, 2002;Solomon et al, 2004;Fernández-Marín et al, 2005;Klingenberg et al, 2007;Diehl-Fleig and Diehl, 2007;Lopes, 2007;Pitts-Singer and Espelie, 2007;Rabeling et al, 2007aRabeling et al, , 2009Sanhudo et al, 2008;Vasconcelos et al, 2008;Solomon et al, 2010), but the number of studies on basal attine ants is dwarfed by the dozens of studies reported annually for more derived attine lineages, such as the leafcutter ants (reviewed in Wirth et al, 2003;Solomon et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planting of fungus onto hibernating workers of the fungus-growing ant Mycetosoritis clorindae (Attini, Formicidae)

2010

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We describe a peculiar fungus-coating behavior of the attine ant Mycetosoritis clorindae, where workers plant fungal mycelium on hibernating nestmates. Hibernating nestmates become ultimately enveloped in a live mycelial coat, remain motionless in this coated state, and essentially become integrated into the garden matrix. The shallow nest architecture of M. clorindae (depth of main garden is 15-30 cm) in southern Brazil forces the ants to overwinter at relatively low temperatures in the topmost soil layer. Fungal coating may help the ants to survive the prolonged periods of immobility during winter. Fungusplanting on attine adults is so far unknown from other attine species, but the behavior parallels the planting of mycelium on larvae and pupae occurring in many attine species. Planting of mycelium on adult nestmates may have been overlooked so far in attine ants because this behavior may occur only in dormant nests, which are least frequently collected. The possible adaptive functions of fungus coatings of hibernating adults and developing brood are likely similar, including for example physical protection, prevention of desiccation, shielding against parasites and predators (e.g., army ants), or defense against diseases.

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Ecologia do forrageio por Cyphomyrmex morschi Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) em vegetação de restinga no Sul do Brasil

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

Methodological remarks on rearing basal Attini ants in the laboratory for biological and evolutionary studies: overview of the genus Mycetophylax

Methodological remarks on rearing basal Attini ants in the laboratory for biological and evolutionary studies: overview of the genus Mycetophylax

Plasticidade Do Comportamento De Forrageamento Em Formigas Cortadeiras

Planting of fungus onto hibernating workers of the fungus-growing ant Mycetosoritis clorindae (Attini, Formicidae)

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