Browsing by Subject "Behavioral evolution"

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    Food sharing in Odontomachus Troglodytes (Santschi) : a behavioral intermediate stage in the evolution of social food exchange in ants
    (Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Servicio de Publicaciones, 1991) Lachaud, J.P.; Dejean, A.; Facultad de Biología
    The ponerine ant Odontomachus troglodytes is well known for its predominantly predatory behavior but it is equally able to exploit sugars as well. Toe first worker to discover a honey droplet sometimes repelled later arrivals in ritualized «joust». After licking the honey, the workers formed it into droplets. They then carried it to the nest where it was stored. Toe droplets were also frequently redistributed to other colony workers by pseudotrophallaxis. This took place through an intermediary «receptionist» worker. Exploitation of carbohydrates leads, most frequently, to two types of trail recruitment: group recruitrnent by tandem running (reported for the first time in the genus Odontomachus), ora primitive form of mass recruitrnent by incitement to leave the nest and search for food. We draw a parallel between the complexity and the flexibility of O. troglodytes behavior and the leve! of behavioral evolution occupied by this species among members of the Ponerinre subfamily.