Intraspecific and interspecific aggressive interactions between two species of fire ants, Solenopsis geminata and S. invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Taiwan

Lai, Li-Chuan; Hua, Kuo-Hsun; Wu, Wen‐Jer

doi:10.1016/j.aspen.2014.09.003

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It should be noted that the "invaded" populations used in this study are within both the invasive range of Solenopsis invicta and the historic distribution of the native fire ants Solenopsis geminata and Solenopsis xyloni (Tschinkel 2006). While S. invicta likely impose a stronger selective pressure than the native fire ants due to their more potent venom (Tschinkel 2006), higher densities (Porter et al 1988), and more aggressive attack than native fire ant species (Lai et al 2015), it is possible that the prior exposure to native fire ants contributes to the observed differences between invaded and uninvaded populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irresistible ants: exposure to novel toxic prey increases consumption over multiple temporal scales

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As species become increasingly exposed to novel challenges, it is critical to understand how evolutionary (i.e., generational) and plastic (i.e., within lifetime) responses work together to determine a species' fate or predict its distribution. The introduction of non-native species imposes novel pressures on the native species that they encounter. Understanding how native species exposed to toxic or distasteful invaders change their feeding behavior can provide insight into their ability to cope with these novel threats as well as broader questions about the evolution of this behavior. We demonstrated that native eastern fence lizards do not avoid consuming invasive fire ants following repeated exposure to this toxic prey. Rather fence lizards increased their consumption of these ants following exposure on three different temporal scales. Lizards ate more fire ants when they were exposed to this toxic prey over successive days. Lizards consumed more fire ants if they had been exposed to fire ants as juveniles 6 months earlier. Finally, lizards from populations exposed to fire ants over multiple generations consumed more fire ants than those from fire ant-free areas. These results suggest that the potentially lethal consumption of fire ants may carry benefits resulting in selection for this behavior, and learning that persists long after initial exposure. Future research on the response of native predators to venomous prey over multiple temporal scales will be valuable in determining the long-term effects of invasion by these novel threats.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irresistible ants: exposure to novel toxic prey increases consumption over multiple temporal scales

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When moving the queen between subcolonies, we recorded worker behaviour towards the queen every 10 minutes for 1 hour and recorded the queen's position within the colony box after 24h. We scored behaviour toward the queen according to Lai et al (2015) [35] as: 0 ignoring, touching, 2 avoiding, 3 holding, 4 aggression, and 5 fighting. At day 120 for all but the six queenless subcolonies with the most workers, we dissected the ovaries of 15 workers selected haphazardly among all the remaining workers, or all the workers if the subcolony was smaller than 15 workers.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We placed one O. smaragdina worker on one side and three A. gracilipes workers on the other side and let the ants acclimatize for five minutes before removing the dividing wall. For the first five minutes, we noted the highest aggression score between the two species at 30s intervals according to the method used in Lai et al (2015) [35] and described above. We then checked the arena every minutes for the remaining 55 minutes and recorded whether O. smaragdina or A. gracilipes workers had died.…”

Section: Aggression Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin, Behaviour, and Genetics of Reproductive Workers in an Invasive Ant

Lenancker

Feldhaar

Holzinger

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Worker reproduction has an important influence on the social cohesion and efficiency of social insect colonies, but its role in the success of invasive ants has been neglected. We used observations of 233 captive colonies, laboratory experiments, and genetic analyses to investigate the conditions for worker reproduction in the invasive Anoplolepis gracilipes (yellow crazy ant) and its potential cost on interspecific defence. We determined how common worker production of males is and whether it is triggered by queen absence; whether physogastric workers with enlarged abdomens are more likely to be reproductive, how normal workers and physogastric workers compare in their contributions to colony labour and defence; and whether worker-produced males and males that could have been queen- or worker-produced differ in their size and heterozygosity. Results: Sixty-six of our 233 captive colonies produced males, and in 25 of these, some males could only have been produced by workers. Colonies with more workers were more likely to produce males, especially for queenless colonies. The average number of days between the first appearance of eggs and adult males in our colonies was 54.1± 10.2 (mean ± SD, n=20). In our laboratory experiment, queen removal triggered an increase in the proportion of physogastric workers. Physogastric workers were more likely to have yolky oocytes (37-54.9%) than normal workers (2-25.6%), which is an indicator of fertile or trophic egg production. Physogastric workers were less aggressive during interspecific aggression tests and foraged less than normal workers. The head width and wing length of worker-produced males were on average 4.0% and 4.3% greater respectively than those of males of undetermined source. Our microsatellite DNA analyses indicate that 4.9% of worker-produced males and 21.1% of males of undetermined source were heterozygous, which suggests the presence of diploid males and/or genetic mosaics in A. gracilipes. Conclusions: Our experimental work provides crucial information on worker reproduction in A. gracilipes and its potential cost to colony defence. The ability of A. gracilipes workers to produce males in the absence of queens may also contribute to its success as an invasive species if intranidal mating can take place between virgin queens and worker-produced males.

show abstract

“…A series of studies also revealed that S. invicta better responds to habitat disturbance than S. geminata (Plowes et al, 2007;LeBrun et al, 2012;Axen et al, 2014) and displays higher potential of dispersal than S. geminata, being able to engage in mating flights earlier in the season (Tschinkel, 2006) and to produce larger colonies on average (Trible et al, 2018). Finally, S. invicta outcompetes S. geminata at food sites (Morrison, 2000), experiences lower mortality during interspecific aggressive interactions (Lai et al, 2015), and quickly responds to the loss of the functional queen with dealation among female sexuals and onset of egg-laying (Vargo and Porter, 1993), a mechanism of developmental plasticity that S. geminata lacks.…”

Section: Fire Antsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Potential Role for Phenotypic Plasticity in Invasions and Declines of Social Insects

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intraspecific and interspecific aggressive interactions between two species of fire ants, Solenopsis geminata and S. invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Taiwan

Cited by 16 publications

References 31 publications

Irresistible ants: exposure to novel toxic prey increases consumption over multiple temporal scales

Irresistible ants: exposure to novel toxic prey increases consumption over multiple temporal scales

Origin, Behaviour, and Genetics of Reproductive Workers in an Invasive Ant

A Potential Role for Phenotypic Plasticity in Invasions and Declines of Social Insects

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About