Abstract
A comparison of trail-following movement parameters of six major urban pest ants, Nylanderia fulva (Forel) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Pheidole megacephala, Linepithema humile (Mayr), Solenopsis invicta Buren, Paratrechina longicornis (Forel), and Technomyrmex albipes (Smith) demonstrated several differences in velocity of movement, amplitude of the deviations from a marked trail, percent fidelity to the trail, number of curves per unit of trail, and trail-following accuracy. Paratrechina longicornis and N. fulva had the largest deviations from the marked trails and moved three times faster (25–30 mm/s) along the trail than the slowest ant, S. invicta (< 10 mm/s), with other ants following between these extremes. Species differences in relation to going toward or returning from food were observed in a few cases, especially with Pa. longicornis for which velocity, amplitude, and trail fidelity differed between the foraging and return trails. Quantification of ant trail-following movement parameters can be useful in understanding the mechanics of ant movement and may be important in testing specific strategies and products that disrupt trail-following behavior.
Highlights
Foraging behavior has been studied in several ant species such as the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr) [1,2,3], the western harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis (Cresson) [4], and the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich) [5] and others
There was no significant difference in the mean velocity between P. megacephala (17.0 ± 0.39 mm/s) and L. humile (17.0 ± 0.24 mm/s), but all other ant species moved at a different mean velocity
For the other ants (N. fulva, 23.5 ± 0.38; L. humile, 17.0 ± 0.24; T. albipes, 13.6 ± 0.27; and S. invicta, 9.6 ± 0.16 mm/s) there were no significant differences between the velocity of ant trail-following to and from the food source
Summary
Foraging behavior has been studied in several ant species such as the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr) [1,2,3], the western harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis (Cresson) [4], and the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich) [5] and others. Once a food resource is encountered the foraging ant will communicate the quality of the food source and its location to its nestmate in an effort to recruit additional foragers [6]. Recruitment in ants includes chemical communication with other nestmates that their assistance is needed to gather resources. Ants will follow a marked trail, with movement that can be characterized by several parameters such as speed and weaving patterns. Ants use trail pheromones to mark paths to be followed by other nestmates [7], including species-specific products from various glandular sources (Dufour’s gland, hindgut, and poison gland) with varying composition and effectiveness [8]. Worker ants follow trail pheromones in a weaving (“zig-zag”) pattern [9]
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