Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to study magnetosensibility and to seek for magnetic nanoparticles in ants. The social insects, by living in colonies, developed very efficient methods of nestmate recognition, being less tolerant towards individuals from other colonies. Therefore, any kind of strange behavior between nestmates and/or conspecifics, besides those present in their own behavioral repertoire, is not expected. The behavior study in the present paper analyze whether changes in the intensity of applied magnetic fields on Ectatomma brunneun (Smith) ants can cause changes in the normal pattern of interaction between conspecifics. A pair of coils generating a magnetic field was used to change the whole local geomagnetic field. Magnetometry studies were done on abdomens and head + antennae using a SQUID magnetometer. The results show that changes in the geomagnetic field affect the usual pattern of interactions between workers from different colonies. The magnetometry results show that abdomens present superparamagnetic nanoparticles and heads present magnetic single domain nanoparticles. Behavior experiments show for the first time that Ectatomma brunneun ants are magnetosensible. The change in nestmate recognition of Ectatomma ants observed while a magnetic field is applied can be associated to some kind of disturbance in a magnetosensor presented in the body based on magnetic nanoparticles.
Highlights
Several experiments have shown that animals can use the geomagnetic field (GMF) for orientation and homing using a magnetoreception process (Wiltschko & Wiltschko, 2005)
Vowles (1954) presented a pioneer study with the ant Myrmica laevinodis (Nylander, 1846). He studied the orientation of ants to gravity and used tiny particles of soft iron cemented to different parts of the ant body to generate a magnetic couple, in the presence of a magnetic field of about 300 μT, to be added to the gravitational couple
We recorded a total of 1571 behaviors during the encounters between workers of E. brunneum
Summary
Several experiments have shown that animals can use the geomagnetic field (GMF) for orientation and homing using a magnetoreception process (Wiltschko & Wiltschko, 2005). Vowles (1954) presented a pioneer study with the ant Myrmica laevinodis (Nylander, 1846) He studied the orientation of ants to gravity and used tiny particles of soft iron cemented to different parts of the ant body to generate a magnetic couple, in the presence of a magnetic field of about 300 μT, to be added to the gravitational couple. Vowles observed that the magnetic couple does not alter the orientation to the gravitational force Still, he observed that ants changed their behavior when the magnetic field was on: they stopped their movement or often cleaning their antennae when the iron particles were located in the funiculi or the scape of both antennae (Vowles, 1954). The study of Kermarrec (1981) showed that Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich, 1793) ants are sensitive to strong static MFs provided by magnets (of about 19100 μT and 27300 μT), by avoidance reactions including the repeatable movement
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