Colony composition, queen behavior, specialized predation on millipedes, and exocrine glands in the ponerine ant Myopias conicara Xu, 1998 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

AbstractWe collected a queenright colony of the very rare Myopias conicara Xu in Vietnam (1 dealate queen, 41 workers and 38 larvae). Both the queen and workers fed on xystodesmid millipedes. After paralyzing a millipede, its head was first removed by the workers, and then the larvae were put on the opening of the collum (anteriormost ring of the trunk). After the inner tissue of the collum was consumed, the exoskeleton of the collum was discarded. The feeding sequence was then repeated on the following rings of the trunk, until the entire prey was consumed. The ring‐shaped exoskeletons of the prey were deposited next to the nest entrance. The exocrine system of the workers (excluding the legs) contains 15 glands of which the structural features are similar to these of other ponerine ants. The presence of an oblong plate gland is interesting, as this gland had only been found previously in Myopias hollandi (Forel). However, none of the novel thoracic glands that were recently described in M. hollandi occur in M. conicara, which illustrates the variation within the genus Myopias. A unique characteristic of the class‐3 glands of Myopias ants is the gradual widening of the ducts, which has never been found in other insects, although the functional significance remains unknown.