A Comparison of the Nest Phenologies of
Three Species of Pogonomyrmex Harvester Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicldae)

Mackay, William P.

doi:10.1155/1981/78635

Cited by 95 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…As a result, these nests are more di⁄cult to study and are largely terra incognita. Reports beyond casual descriptions are rare and most are simply verbal descriptions or drawings (McCook, 1879;Wheeler, 1910;Talbot and Kennedy, 1940;Autuori, 1942;Scherba, 1961;Ettershank, 1968Ettershank, , 1971Lavigne, 1969;Nielsen and Jensen, 1975;Dlussky, 1981;MacKay, 1981;Conway, 1983;Kugler and Hincapie, 1983;McCahon and Lockwood, 1990;Bristow et al, 1992;Antonialli-Junior and Giannotti, 1997). By and large, information on ant nest architecture is collected incidentally, rather than as a primary goal of research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The natural nest architecture probably structures the colony within it, and organizes its functions, much as the architecture of a factory building organizes the labor force within it. The generally centrifugal movement of aging workers away from the brood creates an association of age, location and task, and therefore structures the colony spatially, even in laboratory colonies (Chew, 1960;Golley and Gentry, 1964;Lavigne, 1969;MacKay, 1981;Porter and Jorgensen, 1981;Tschinkel, 1987;Ho « lldobler and Wilson, 1990;Sendova Franks and Franks, 1995;Tschinkel, 1998Tschinkel, , 1999a. Most signi¢cantly, when the social structure is disrupted experimentally or by a move to a new nest, workers resume the same positions they occupied in the previous nest (Sendova Franks and Franks, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subterranean ant nests: trace fossils past and future?

Tschinkel

2003

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

145

120

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Many species of ants excavate complex, species-typical nests in soil. The basic structural units of many nests are descending tunnels connecting flattened, generally horizontal chambers of oval to lobed outline. The species-typical structure of many nests results from variation in the size, shape, number and arrangement of these basic elements. Nest architecture can be rendered by filling subterranean nests with a thin slurry of orthodontal plaster, then excavating and reconstructing the hardened cast. Photographs of such nest casts of nine species of ants from northern Florida show the range and type of variation of architecture. Preservation conditions under which ant nests could form complex trace fossils are discussed, and reports of such traces reviewed. The images presented in this paper will help to alert trace fossil specialists to the potential range of appearance of such nest fossils. ß

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subterranean ant nests: trace fossils past and future?

Tschinkel

2003

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

145

120

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“…Older colonies contain more ants (MacKay 1981). As a colony grows, it clears a larger nest mound, builds longer and wider foraging trails, establishes a larger, more distinct midden of cleared bits of vegetation and seed husks, and brings in more pebbles to cover the mound.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…P. barbatus colonies seem to become established, and their growth rates begin to level off, at about 5 years of age (personal observation). I did perturbation experiments using colonies about 2 years old, probably containing only one-fifth as many ants as the older colonies (MacKay 1981;Markl & Holldobler, personal communication). Although it seems to be generally true of most ant species that the distribution of workers of different age and/or size classes changes as a colony matures (Oster & Wilson 1978), we know little about ontogenetic changes in a colony's response to environmental events.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Group-level dynamics in harvester ants: young colonies and the role of patrolling

Gordon

1987

Animal Behaviour

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Abstract. The flexibility of colony organization in the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, was investigated in the field in older (about 5 years) and younger (about 2 years) colonies. Perturbations affecting nest maintenance work, foraging and patrolling were made singly and in various combinations. In both younger and older colonies, events that directly affected only one activity caused changes in the numbers of ants engaged in other activities. An increase in patrolling early in the activity period caused foraging to decrease later on. Combined perturbations show that in both younger and older colonies, all three activities were linked by complex, synergistic interactions: the response to a perturbation affecting one activity itself varied, depending on the states of the other activities. The results suggest a more strongly homeostatic response to perturbations in older colonies than in younger ones: older colonies appeared to respond more consistently to single perturbations, and to decrease foraging less in combined perturbations, than did younger ones. Individual workers live only about a year. Thus similarities and differences in the flexibilities of colonies 3 or more years apart are organizational rather than a result of the accumulated experience of particular individuals. Ontogenetic changes in a colony's response to environmental stress may be ecologically important.

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“…Although there is a considerable number of studies mentioning the architecture of ant nests, many of them are based on qualitative descriptions accompanied by schematic drawings of the nests (Talbot & Kennedy, 1940;Autuori, 1942;Talbot, 1948;Scherba, 1961;Ettershank, 1968;Kondah, 1968;Lavigne, 1969;Wheeler & Rissing, 1975;Mackay, 1981;Kugler & Hincapie, 1983;Tschinkel, 1987;Bristow et al, 1992;Crosland, 1995). However, quantitative data of ant nests are sparse (Tschinkel, 1987(Tschinkel, , 1999Cassill et al, 2002;Mikleyev & Tschinkel, 2004;Moreira et al, 2004a,b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovering the Giant Nest Architecture of Grass-Cutting Ants, <em>Atta capiguara</em> (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Forti¹,

Andrade²,

Camargo³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Atta capiguara is a grass-cutting ant species frequently found in Cerrado biome. However, little is known about the giant nest architecture of this ant. In this study, we investigated the architecture of three A. capiguara nests from the fragment of cerrado in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Casts were made of the nests by filling them with cement to permit better visualization of internal structures such as chambers and tunnels. After excavation, the depth and dimensions (length, width, and height) of the chambers were measured. The results showed the typical shape of Atta capiguara nests consisting of mounds of loose soil with unique features resembling a conic section. The fungus chambers were found outside the apparent main part of the nest and were spaced apart and distributed laterally at ground level. The waste chambers were located beneath the largest mound of loose soil. Both the fungus and waste chambers exhibited a sectoral distribution. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the so far unknown nest architecture of the grass-cutting ant A. capiguara.

show abstract

A Comparison of the Nest Phenologies of Three Species of Pogonomyrmex Harvester Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicldae)

Cited by 95 publications

References 24 publications

Subterranean ant nests: trace fossils past and future?

Subterranean ant nests: trace fossils past and future?

Group-level dynamics in harvester ants: young colonies and the role of patrolling

Discovering the Giant Nest Architecture of Grass-Cutting Ants, <em>Atta capiguara</em> (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

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