Nestmate Recognition in the Amazonian Myrmecophyte Ant Pseudomyrmex concolor Smith (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Abstract

Nestmate recognition is fundamental to colonial cohesion in social insects, since it allows altruistic behavior towards relatives, recognition of intruders, territorial monopoly and resources defense. In ants, olfactory cues is a key factor in this process. Pseudomyrmex concolor is a highly aggressive ant that defends their host plant Tachigali myrmecophila against herbivores. However, this defense depends on the ant ability to discriminate in order to treat differentially between members of their own colony and intruders . In this study we investigated "whether" and "how" P. concolor recognizes nestmates from non-nestmates. We hypothesized that P. concolor is skillful in recognizing nestmates and tested it in field with experiments using nestmates and non-nestmates. Additionally, to test the efficiency of resident ants against intraspecific competition during colony foundation, we simulate the plant occupation by a competitor queen, introducing nonnestmates queens in plants previously occupied by P. concolor. For the issue of the "how", we hypothesized that the main cue used by this ant in nestmate recognition is olfactory signal. Thus, we tested adaptive threshold model, which predicts that, if the individual odor and colony's internal template are discrepant enough, the resident nestmate will behave aggressively towards incoming individuals. In this case, we confined nestmates with non-nestmates odors, and then, we reintroduced them in its host plants. In each experiment the frequency of aggressive behaviors were recorded and compared. Results showed that P. concolor recognize and discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates workers (biting and stinging them) and exclude potential competitors queens. Workers reintroduced in their own colony after impregnated with non-familiar odor were treated as non-nestmates. The adaptive threshold hypothesis was confirmed, the main cue used by this ant species in nestmate recognition is olfactory signals.

Temporal Dynamics of Competition for Space between Two Phytophagous Hemiptera Associated with the Garambullo<em> Myrtillocactus geometrizans</em>

“…This species has only been found associated with M. geometrizans in the Huichapan locality (it is probably also found on the cactus Pachycereus marginatus, according to field observations) and in trophobiosis with the ant Liometopum apiculatum Mayr 1870. The ant attends to the scales day and night, feeding on the honeydew they produce; in exchange, it protects the scales from its natural enemies, grooms them, and transports them to sites suitable for their establishment and development [29,31,38,39].…”

The Habitat Affects the Ecological Interactions between Azteca Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Cecropia Loefl. (Urticaceae Juss.)

“…It evidencing that the effectiveness of the defense actually varies between ant species. Different levels of worker aggressiveness may directly relate to nestmate recognition ability, as in myrmecophyte ant, Pseudomyrmex concolor (Pacheco & Del-Claro, 2015).…”

Semiochemical Compounds of <em>Liometopum apiculatum</em> (Mayr) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) during the Development of Larvae of the Reproductive Caste

“…Liometopum apiculatum (Mayr, 1870) (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae: Dolichoderinae) is a species of ant that is distributed in the Nearctic and subtropical zone of Mexico [8,9], this arthropod is known as the escamolera ant, a popular term for its reproductive caste larvae. Escamoles derives from the Nahuatl language "azcatlmolli" (Axcatl = ant and molli = stew) meaning ant stew [10].…”