Insect behaviour: arboreal ants build traps to capture prey.
To meet their need for nitrogen in the restricted foraging environment provided by their host plants, some arboreal ants deploy group ambush tactics in order to capture flying and jumping prey that might otherwise escape. Here we show that the ant Allomerus decemarticulatus uses hair from the host plant's stem, which it cuts and binds together with a purpose-grown fungal mycelium, to build a spongy 'galleried' platform for trapping much larger insects. Ants beneath the platform reach through the holes and immobilize the prey, which is then stretched, transported and carved up by a swarm of nestmates. To our knowledge, the collective creation of a trap as a predatory strategy has not been described before in ants.
Dejean
Alain
A
Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR CNRS 5174, Université Toulouse III, 31062 Toulouse, France.
Solano
Pascal Jean
PJ
Ayroles
Julien
J
Corbara
Bruno
B
Orivel
Jérôme
J
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D005426:Flight, Animal; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007313:Insecta / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
D009584:Nitrogen