Pulliainen, Unni and Helantera, Heikki and Sundstrom, Liselotte and Schultner, Eva (2019) The possible role of ant larvae in the defence against social parasites. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 286 (1898): 20182867. ISSN 0962-8452, 1471-2954
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Temporary social parasite ant queens initiate new colonies by entering colonies of host species, where they begin laying eggs. As the resident queen can be killed during this process, host colonies may lose their entire future reproductive output. Selection thus favours the evolution of defence mechanisms, before and after parasite intrusion. Most studies on social parasites focus on host worker discrimination of parasite queens and their offspring. However, ant larvae can also influence brood composition by consuming eggs. This raises the question whether host larvae can aid in preventing colony takeover by consuming eggs laid by parasite queens. To test whether larvae could play a role in anti-parasite defence, we compared the rates at which larvae of a common host species, Formica fusca, consumed eggs laid by social parasite, non-parasite, nest-mate, or conspecific non-nest-mate queens. Larvae consumed social parasite eggs more than eggs laid by a heterospecific non-parasite queen, irrespective of the chemical distance between the egg cuticular profiles. Also, larvae consumed eggs laid by conspecific non-nest-mate queens more than those laid by nest-mate queens. Our study suggests that larvae may act as players in colony defence against social parasitism, and that social parasitism is a key factor shaping discrimination behaviour in ants.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | WORKER REPRODUCTION; COLONY TAKEOVER; HYMENOPTERA; BROOD; EVOLUTION; HYDROCARBONS; FORMICIDAE; DIVERSITY; CONFLICT; CUCKOOS; larvae; ants; recognition; cannibalism; social parasites; colony defence |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Apr 2020 06:29 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Apr 2020 06:29 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/27379 |
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