Workers plant fungus on the bodies of the larvae!
Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 6:16 am
From
Larval isolation and brood care in Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants
J. F. S. Lopes, W. O. H. Hughes, R. S. Camargo and L. C. Forti
Received 8 November 2004; revised 31 March 2005; accepted 22 April 2005.
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gatewa ... f&site=398
The larvae of leaf-cutting ants are maintained
within the fungus gardens of their colonies and are fed
pieces of fungus by the adult workers. However, little else
is known about the nature of the worker-larva interaction
in these ecologically important ants. To examine whether
workers can gauge the needs of individual larvae, we isolated
larvae without adult workers for different lengths of
time. We then placed workers with the larvae and recorded
the type and frequency of the subsequent behaviours of the
workers. Workers scraped the mouthparts of larvae, ingested
their faecal fluid, fed them with fungal hyphae, transported
them around the fungus garden and, most frequently, licked
their bodies. The workers were also observed to ‘plant’ fungal
hyphae on the bodies of larvae. Workers interacted more
frequently with larvae that had been isolated without workers
than with those that had not, but there was no effect of the
length of isolation. The results suggest that the interactions
are complex, involving a number of behaviours that probably
serve different functions, and that workers are to some extent
able to assess the individual needs of larvae.
Larval isolation and brood care in Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants
J. F. S. Lopes, W. O. H. Hughes, R. S. Camargo and L. C. Forti
Received 8 November 2004; revised 31 March 2005; accepted 22 April 2005.
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gatewa ... f&site=398
The larvae of leaf-cutting ants are maintained
within the fungus gardens of their colonies and are fed
pieces of fungus by the adult workers. However, little else
is known about the nature of the worker-larva interaction
in these ecologically important ants. To examine whether
workers can gauge the needs of individual larvae, we isolated
larvae without adult workers for different lengths of
time. We then placed workers with the larvae and recorded
the type and frequency of the subsequent behaviours of the
workers. Workers scraped the mouthparts of larvae, ingested
their faecal fluid, fed them with fungal hyphae, transported
them around the fungus garden and, most frequently, licked
their bodies. The workers were also observed to ‘plant’ fungal
hyphae on the bodies of larvae. Workers interacted more
frequently with larvae that had been isolated without workers
than with those that had not, but there was no effect of the
length of isolation. The results suggest that the interactions
are complex, involving a number of behaviours that probably
serve different functions, and that workers are to some extent
able to assess the individual needs of larvae.