PLoS ONE 14(1):Įditor: Kleber Del-Claro, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, BRAZIL However, this generalized response to both potentially lethal and harmless intruders might have driven the evolution of ant-eucharitid interactions, opening a window for parasitoid attack and allowing adult parasitoid wasps to quickly leave the natal nest unharmed.Ĭitation: Pérez-Lachaud G, Rocha FH, Valle-Mora J, Hénaut Y, Lachaud J-P (2019) Fine-tuned intruder discrimination favors ant parasitoidism. Colony-level prophylactic and hygienic behavioral responses through effective removal of inedible intruders appears to be the most general and flexible form of defense in ants against a diverse array of intruders. tuberculatum workers and reveal a very fine-tuned intruder discrimination response. Our results confirm the previously documented recognition capabilities of E. Workers not only recognized and discriminated between several distinct intruders but also adjusted their behavior to the type of intruder encountered. The structure and complexity of behavioral sequences differed among those intruders that were discarded. The timing of detection was in accordance with the nature and size of the intruder: corpses (a potential source of contamination) were detected faster than any other intruder and transported to the refuse piles within 15 min. Ants evicted intruders that represented a threat to the colony’s health (dead ants) or were not suitable as prey items (filter paper, eucharitid parasitoid wasps, non myrmecophilous adult weevils), but killed potential prey (weevil larvae, termites).
Behavioral responses differed significantly according to intruder type. We aimed to determine whether Ectatomma tuberculatum ants exhibited specific behavioral responses to potential or actual intruders posing different threats to the host colony and to contribute to an understanding of complex ant-eucharitid interactions.
Ants are known to discriminate between nestmates and non-nestmates, but whether they recognize the strength of a threat and their capacity to adjust their behavior accordingly have not been fully explored. A diversity of arthropods (myrmecophiles) thrives within ant nests, many of them unmolested though some, such as the specialized Eucharitidae parasitoids, may cause direct damage to their hosts.