Abstract Many ant species are known to exhibit foraging tool use, during which ants place various debris items (e.g., pieces of soil, leaves, pine needles, etc.) into liquid food, and then they carry the food-soaked tools back nest. In present study, we compared tool-using behavior in captive colonies two closely related myrmicine with different feeding preferences: Aphaenogaster subterranea , ...

Over a two-year period in Arizona, there were 237 reported cases of people stung by ants. Most of these cases were caused by harvester ants and native fire ants, which pose a significant health risk to a small percentage of the population who are allergic to their sting. We report a case of anaphylaxis in Tucson caused by a sting of Pogonomyrmex rugosus. In addition, due to the severity of thei...

The genus Messor consists of 113 species of seed harvesting ants that are found in grasslands, semi-arid areas and savannahs in both the Old and New World. A full spectrum of foraging strategies occurs in Messor, ranging from individual to group foraging, with the latter having evolved several times. This paper reviews foraging strategies and the underlying behavioral mechanisms found in specie...

A comparative study of the exocrine chemistry of Messor bouvieri, M. barbarus, M. lusitanicus, M. marocanus, M. arenarius, M. ebeninus, M. rugosus, M. angularis, and M. cephalotes has been carried out. Anabasine and related nicotinoids were detected in all these species except for M. barbarus, M. lusitanicus, and M. rugosus. The alkenes from the Dufour’s glands of these ants were shown to be 1-...

Horned lizards (Iguanidae, Phrynosomatinae, Phrynosoma) are morphologically specialized reptiles characterized by squat, tank-like bodies, short limbs, blunt snouts, spines and cranial horns, among other traits. They are unusual among lizards in the degree to which they specialize on a diet of ants, but exceptional in the number of pugnacious, highly venomous, stinging ants they consume, especi...

Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel H. A . Lloyd Laboratory of Chemistry, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda. MD 20892, USA Z. Naturforsch. 42c, 1027—1029 (1987); received March 30/June 11, 1987 Messor ebeninus, Poison Gland. Dufour's Gland, Exocrine Chemistry. Anabasine Anabasine is the major volatile product in the poison gland exudate of Messor...

Facilitation, when one species enhances the environment or performance of another species, can be highly localized in space. While facilitation in plant communities has been intensely studied, the role of facilitation in shaping animal communities is less well understood. In the Chihuahuan Desert, both kangaroo rats and harvester ants depend on the abundant seeds of annual plants. Kangaroo rats...

The reproductive division of labour between queen and worker castes in social insects is a defining characteristic of eusociality and a classic example of phenotypic plasticity. Whether social insect larvae develop into queens or workers has long been thought to be determined by environmental cues, i.e. larvae are developmentally totipotent. Contrary to this paradigm, several recent studies hav...

The simultaneous study of the temporal dynamics of foraging behaviour, diet and seed abundance is essential to assess the way in which resources affect the behaviour and ecology of harvester ants. Here, we evaluate how fluctuations in grass seed abundance during three consecutive growing seasons influenced the foraging behaviour and diet of the harvester ants Pogonomyrmex rastratus, P. mendozan...