Foraging behavior of the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

Neotropical Entomology 35(2): 159-164 (2006) Comportamento de Forrageio da Formiga sem Rainha Dinoponera quadriceps Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)RESUMO -A procura e ingestão de alimentos são essenciais para qualquer animal, que gasta a maior parte de sua vida procurando os recursos alimentares, inclusive mais que outras atividades como acasalamento, disputas intra-específicas ou fuga de predadores. O presente estudo tem como objetivo descrever e quantificar diversos aspectos do forrageamento, dieta e transporte de alimentos em Dinoponera quadriceps Santschi em mata atlântica secundária do Nordeste do Brasil. Foram observadas três colônias escolhidas ao acaso distantes pelo menos 50 m uma das outras. Ao sair da colônia, as operárias eram seguidas até o seu retorno à mesma, sem nenhum provisionamento alimentar, nem interferência sobre suas atividades. As atividades utilizando técnica de focal time sampling com registro instantâneo a cada minuto, durante 10 minutos consecutivos. Cada colônia era observada 1 dia/semana, com pelo menos 6 h/dia resultando em 53,8h de observação direta das operárias. Foram registradas as atividades de forrageamento, o sucesso no transporte do alimento, tipo de alimento, limpeza e as interações entre operárias. O forrageio foi sempre individual não ocorrendo recrutamento em nenhuma ocasião. A dieta foi composta principalmente de artrópodes, sendo na maioria insetos. Em pequena proporção, ocorreu coleta de pequenos frutos de Eugenia sp. O tempo de forrageio foi maior quando as operárias transportavam alimentos até a colônia, sendo o período de retorno inferior ao de forrageio, sugerindo a utilização de pistas químicas e visuais na orientação, durante suas atividades de forrageio e coleta de alimentos. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Forrageamento, dieta, orientaçãoABSTRACT -The search for and ingestion of food are essential to all animals, which spend most of their lives looking for nutritional sources, more than other activities such as mating, intra-specific disputes or escaping from predators. The present study aims to describe and quantify several aspects of foraging behavior, diet and food transport in the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps Santschi in a secondary Atlantic forest, Northeastern Brazil. Three colonies were randomly selected at a distance of at least 50 m from one another. On leaving the colony, worker ants were followed until their return, with no nutritional provision or interference with their activities. Activities were recorded using focal time sampling with instantaneous recording every minute for 10 consecutive minutes. Each colony was observed 1 day/week, for at least 6 h/day resulting in 53.8h of direct observation of the workers. Foraging activities, success in transporting food, type of food, cleaning and interaction among the workers were recorded. Foraging was always individual, with no occurrence of recruitment. Diet was composed mainly of arthropods, mostly insects. The collection of small fruits (Eugenia sp.) was also observed. Foraging time was greater when w...

Seasonal activity of Dinoponera quadriceps Santschi (Formicidae, Ponerinae) in the semi-arid Caatinga of northeastern Brazil

“…Diet similarity had already been observed by Fourcassié & Oliveira (2002) and Araújo & Rodrigues (2006) in the genus Dinoponera, specifically D. quadriceps and D. gigantea. This also seems to occur in populations of D. quadriceps that inhabit contrasting ecosystems, such as tropical rainforest and the Caatinga.…”

“…The absence of a relationship between D. quadriceps activity and total abundance of soil arthropods and the existence of a positive relationship between some orders and specific classes of these organisms indicates a preference for certain ecosystem prey, as confirmed by Araújo & Rodrigues (2006) in an area of secondary Atlantic Forest in the Brazilian northeast. Diet similarity had already been observed by Fourcassié & Oliveira (2002) and Araújo & Rodrigues (2006) in the genus Dinoponera, specifically D. quadriceps and D. gigantea.…”

“…The number of D. quadriceps workers collected in pitfall traps was used to measure foraging activity. Foraging is the most common behavior displayed by D. quadriceps outside the nest, accounting for more than 90% of extra-nest time (Araújo & Rodrigues 2006). Thus, the worker capture rate in pitfall traps is mostly linked to their foraging activity in the ecosystem, whereas, if more workers are foraging outside the nest, the likelihood of more individuals falling into the pitfall traps increases (Dunn et al 2007).…”

“…Worker abundance was also related to total abundance of arthropods collected in the three types of traps and to abundance of their potential prey. For analysis purposes only the following arthropod taxa cited by Araújo & Rodrigues (2006) as part of D. quadriceps diet were considered potential prey: Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Araneae, Chilopoda and Diplopoda. Non-parametric tests were used because the data did not exhibit normal distribution and homogeneity of variance.…”

“…Few studies have investigated foraging in Dinoponera quadriceps Santschi (Formicidae, Ponerinae) (Araújo & Rodrigues 2006), although the absence of a queen caste has stimulated numerous studies on reproduction and dominance hierarchy in this species (Dantas de Araújo et al 1990aAraújo et al , 1990bHart & Ratnieks 2005;Monnin et al , 2002Monnin et al , 2003Monnin & Ratnieks 1999;Peeters et al 1999 Atlantic Forest, Caatinga and Cerrado areas (Kempf 1971;Paiva & Brandão 1995). D. quadriceps nests are located on the ground, up to a depth of around one meter, with an average of eight chambers, ranging up to 16, and one or more entrances (Dantas de Araújo et al 1990b;Paiva & Brandão 1995;Vasconcellos et al 2004).…”