On the origin of slaves in dulotic ant societies

Moli, F. Le

doi:10.1080/11250008009440337

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Ants of this genus (the Amazon ants) are all obligatory slave-makers, which periodically organize group raids against colonies of the related genus Formica to sack the resident brood. A significant portion of the plundered brood is reared to eclosión and integrated into the work force of the parasitic colony to perform all domestic tasks (Buschinger et al, 1980;Le Moli, 1980;Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990;Mon et al, 199D. Colony founding is another biological context where the socially parasitic nature of this species is evident. Because queens are hot able to rear their own brood and start a new colony alone, they must invade a Formica colony, kill the resident queen(s) and become accepted by the resident workers Mori et al, 1994Mori et al, , 1995Mori et al, , 2001.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mandibular glands as a source of sexual pheromones in virgin queens ofPolyergus rufescens(Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Grasso¹,

Visicchio²,

Castracani³

et al. 2003

Italian Journal of Zoology

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'Female-calling syndrome' is the reproductive strategy adopted by the European slave-making ant Polyergus rufescens, where a winged female disperses a short distance from the nest, ascends to an elevated position (at the top of a blade of grass) and is joined shortly thereafter by conspecific males. This suggests the probable use of very effective sexual calling pheromones by females. Here, the role of the mandibular glands of winged females is demonstrated to be a source of sexual pheromones. The secretion of these glands (among the structures tested: the mandibular, Dufour, poison and pygidial glands and the head without mandibular glands) appears to have a strong attractive effect on males and also elicits male copulatory behaviour.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mandibular glands as a source of sexual pheromones in virgin queens ofPolyergus rufescens(Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Grasso¹,

Visicchio²,

Castracani³

et al. 2003

Italian Journal of Zoology

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“…Ants of the genus Polyergus (the so-called Amazon ants) are all obligatory slave-makers, which periodically organize group raids against colonies of the related genus Formica to sack the resident brood. A significant part of the plundered brood is reared to eclosión and is integrated into the working force of the dulotic colony (Buschinger et al, 1980;Le Moli, 1980;Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990;Mori et al, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mating and post‐mating behaviour of the European amazon ant,Polyergus rufescens(Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Mori

d’Ettorre

Moli

1994

Bolletino di zoologia

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The mating and post-mating behaviour of reproductives belonging to three sympatric dulotic colonies of the obligatory slave-making ant Polyergus rufescens Latr. (the «Amazon») were analysed in the field near Parma (Italy) every day during the summer of 1992. Fortytwo nuptial flights (of males, females, or both) were recorded, generally in sunny and hot early afternoons. Our observations show that the European amazon ant adopts a reproductive behaviour (similar to the «female calling syndrome») more diverse than that performed by the two American congeneric species. The results indicate that P. rufescens females (i) mate on the ground around their natal nest, or (ii) return to a dulotic colony after mating flights and wait for a raid, or (iii) mate directly during a raid. Because of the nonindependent mode of colony foundation typical of the obligatory slave-makers, the following of a slave-raid swarm by newly inseminated young queens is considered an advantageous strategy to locate and invade host nests and to establish a new dulotic colony.

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“…The acceptance of adult nestmates by enslaved workers can thus be regarded as an artifact of a familiarity based mechanism that would normally ensure the acceptance of closely related nestmates and the rejection of non-nestmates. Early learning mechanisms are also thought to account for slave workers' acceptance of slavemaker broods (15)(16)(17), although Leptothorax longispinosus workers (commonly enslaved by the slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus) preferentially accept and tend slavemaker broods regardless of their prior experience with ant broods (18). Such recognition errors are presumably costly, and thus selection should favor recognition mechanisms allowing discrimination against parasites (19).…”

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Prudent Protomognathus and despotic Leptothorax duloticus : Differential costs of ant slavery

Hare

Alloway

2001

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The concept of ant slavery rests on the untested assumption that slave-making ants impose fitness costs on colonies of the species they raid. We tested that assumption by comparing the summertime seasonal productivity of Leptothorax spp. colonies in field exclosures without slavemakers, with a colony of the obligatory slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus, or with a colony of the obligatory slavemaker Leptothorax duloticus. Leptothorax longispinosus colonies placed in exclosures with P. americanus colonies did not differ significantly in any demographic attribute from colonies in exclosures without slavemakers. By contrast, Leptothorax curvispinosus colonies exposed to L. duloticus experienced significant reductions in dealate queens, workers, and larvae relative to control colonies exclosed without slavemakers. The pronounced difference in the impact of these slavemakers on their host-species populations correlates with differences in the behavior of the slavemakers observed in the laboratory and likely explains why P. americanus is more abundant than L. duloticus in nature. It seems that more advanced social parasites, like anatomical parasites, evolve to minimize their impact on their hosts, and thus can be regarded as ''prudent social parasites.'' social parasitism ͉ life-history costs ͉ prudent parasite

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On the origin of slaves in dulotic ant societies

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

The mandibular glands as a source of sexual pheromones in virgin queens ofPolyergus rufescens(Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

The mandibular glands as a source of sexual pheromones in virgin queens ofPolyergus rufescens(Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Mating and post‐mating behaviour of the European amazon ant,Polyergus rufescens(Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Prudent Protomognathus and despotic Leptothorax duloticus : Differential costs of ant slavery

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