The Origins of Slavery in Leptothoracine Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Alloway, Thomas M.

doi:10.1086/283557

Cited by 79 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The results here indicate that the reduced slave-maker impact on the host population may be a function of the same. Raids of P. americanus and T. duloticus are rarely if ever observed in the field due to the small physical stature of these ants and colony sizes (Alloway 1980). Our field observations of two T. duloticus colonies raiding colonies of P. americanus and T. curvispinosus in field enclosures just days after being placed in sympatry are, therefore, highly suggestive.…”

Section: Nonadditive Effects: Evidence Of Interference Competition?mentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Two of these (Protomognathus [ϭ Harpagoxenus] americanus (Emery) and Temnothorax duloticus (Wesson)) are widely distributed in deciduous forests throughout the northeastern United States and Canada. Both are obligate social parasites that share three closely related host species in the genus Temnothorax as their host (Talbot 1957, Alloway 1980, Alloway et al 1982. (These species, including T. duloticus, have been recently transferred from the genus Leptothorax [Bolton 2003]. )…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Parasite Sympatry on the Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution

Johnson

2006

Ecology

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Abstract. Slave-making ants are specialized social parasites that steal the young from colonies of their host species to augment their slave supply. The degree of parasite-host specialization has been shown to shape the trajectory along which parasites and hosts coevolve and is a prime contributor to the geographic mosaic of coevolution. However, virtually nothing is known about extrinsic influences on parasite-host dynamics, although the simple addition of a competing slave-maker may significantly alter selection pressures. Here we report the effect of two sympatric slave-makers on a single host. We measured temporal and spatial changes in colonies of the primary host Temnothorax curvispinosus that had been placed in field enclosures along with a single colony of either one or both species of the North American slave-making ants Protomognathus americanus and Temnothorax duloticus. Each slave-maker species alone had a negative impact on its hosts, although one slave-maker species more frequently decimated its host assemblage and then went extinct. Nevertheless, the combined effect in mixed-parasite enclosures was, surprisingly, greatly attenuated. Virulent slave-maker growth and prudent slave-maker decay in these shared enclosures, together with field data showing an inverse proportional relationship between the two slave-makers in natural populations, suggest that their checkered distribution is a consequence of direct asymmetrical antagonism between parasites. Thus, our results imply a tripartite coevolutionary arms race, whereby intraguild interactions among social parasites strongly affect the realized selection pressures on hosts and contribute to the geographic mosaic of coevolution.

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Section: Nonadditive Effects: Evidence Of Interference Competition?mentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Parasite Sympatry on the Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution

Johnson

2006

Ecology

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“…Such commerce requires a worker caste which is adept in carrying brood and adults in a fashion which might be preadaptive for slave-raiding (Buschinger 1970). In this context it is noteworthy that Wilson (1975) and Alloway (1980) have shown that L. ambiguus, L. curvispinosus, and L. longispinosus sometimes behave like facultative slave-makers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Polygyny and Polydomy in Three North American Species of the Ant Genus Leptothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Alloway

Buschinger

Talbot

et al. 1982

Psyche: A Journal of Entomology

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117

108

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This paper deals with certain behavioral and ecological factors which may be relevant to the evolution and maintenance of social parasitism in ants. We will argue that some of the same factors which might predispose one species to evolve into a social parasite might make resistance to parasitism difficult for a closely related species.After their mating flight, the queens of most nonparasitic ant species found new colonies alone. A queen of such a species finds a suitable nesting place, excavates a small cavity, and seals herself inside. She then lays a clutch of eggs and feeds her first larvae a special "baby food" derived metabolically from the degeneration of her wing muscles and fat body. These larvae mature to become female workers which forage for food, enlarge the nest, feed the queen, and rear subsequent broods of workers and reproductives. Mature ant colonies usually occupy only one nest (monodomy). However, the number of queens in typical mature colonies varies.Colonies of some species never contain more than one functional queen (monogyny), while colonies of other species often have multiple queens (polygyny) (Buschinger 1974). However, the queens of all known obligatory slave-making, inquiline, and temporary-parasite species found colonies non-inde-1.

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“…Although some captured brood may be eaten, parasite colonies rear many captured worker pupae; and host workers that eclose from captured broods subsequently augment the slavemaker colony's worker force (2)(3)(4). Slave raids disrupt the order of target colonies (5-9), and brood is lost to predation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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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The Origins of Slavery in Leptothoracine Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Cited by 79 publications

References 9 publications

Impact of Parasite Sympatry on the Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution

Impact of Parasite Sympatry on the Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution

Polygyny and Polydomy in Three North American Species of the Ant Genus Leptothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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

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