Abstract
Weaver ants (Oecophylla longinoda Latreille) are used commercially to control pest insects and for protein production. In this respect fast colony growth is desirable for managed colonies. Transplantation of non-nestmate pupae to incipient colonies has been shown to boost colony growth. Our objectives were to find the maximum number of pupae a founding queen can handle, and to measure the associated colony growth. Secondly, we tested if transplantation of pupae led to production of larger nanitic workers (defined as unusually small worker ants produced by founding queens in their first batch of offspring). Forty-five fertilized queens were divided into three treatments: 0 (control), 100 or 300 non-nestmate pupae transplanted to each colony. Pupae transplantation resulted in highly increased growth rates, as pupae were readily adopted by the queens and showed high proportions of surviving (mean = 76%). However, survival was significantly higher when 100 pupae were transplanted compared to transplantation of 300 pupae, indicating that queens were unable to handle 300 pupae adequately and that pupae require some amount of nursing. Nevertheless, within the 60-day experiment the transplantation of 300 pupae increased total colony size more than 10-fold whereas 100 pupae increased the size 5.6 fold, compared to control. This increase was due not only to the individuals added in the form of pupae but also to an increased per capita brood production by the resident queen, triggered by the adopted pupae. The size of hatching pupae produced by the resident queen also increased with the number of pupae transplanted, leading to larger nanitic workers in colonies adopting pupae. In conclusion, pupae transplantation may be used to produce larger colonies with larger worker ants and may thus reduce the time to produce weaver ant colonies for commercial purposes. This in turn may facilitate the implementation of the use of weaver ants.
Highlights
Weaver ants (Oecophylla spp.) are utilized for biological control of insect pests in a number of tropical tree crops (Peng et al 2004, 2010; Van Mele et al 2007) and are in this way known to improve fruit quality (Sinzogan et al 2008; Peng et al 2004)
No pupae were removed by the queens in the 100 pupae treatment whereas between 17 and 45 pupae were removed by the queens in the 300 pupae treatment
There was significantly lower survival at the 300 pupae transplantation rate if only the survival of the pupae that were kept by the queens were considered (mean % survival of pupae ± SD, 100 pupae = 83.5 ± 3.89, 300 pupae = 77.2 ± 3.92; ANOVA including egg numbers before transplantation as a co-factor, F(1, 27) = 19.18; P = 0.0002)
Summary
Weaver ants (Oecophylla spp.) are utilized for biological control of insect pests in a number of tropical tree crops (Peng et al 2004, 2010; Van Mele et al 2007) and are in this way known to improve fruit quality (Sinzogan et al 2008; Peng et al 2004). They are increasingly being utilized as a substitute for synthetic chemical pesticides (Dwomoh et al 2009; Offenberg et al 2013). The maximum number of pupae that can be nursed by, and transplanted to, a sole founding queen is not yet known
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