title: Testing the adjustable threshold model for intruder recognition on Myrmica ants in the context of a social parasite.
abstract: Social insect colonies are like fortresses, well protected and rich in shared stored resources. This makes them ideal targets for exploitation by predators, parasites and competitors. Colonies of Myrmica rubra ants are sometimes exploited by the parasitic butterfly Maculinea alcon. Maculinea alcon gains access to the ants' nests by mimicking their cuticular hydrocarbon recognition cues, which allows the parasites to blend in with their host ants. Myrmica rubra may be particularly susceptible to exploitation in this fashion as it has large, polydomous colonies with many queens and a very viscous population structure. We studied the mutual aggressive behaviour of My. rubra colonies based on predictions for recognition effectiveness. Three hypotheses were tested: first, that aggression increases with distance (geographical, genetic and chemical); second, that the more queens present in a colony and therefore the less-related workers within a colony, the less aggressively they will behave; and that colonies facing parasitism will be more aggressive than colonies experiencing less parasite pressure. Our results confirm all these predictions, supporting flexible aggression behaviour in Myrmica ants depending on context.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Evolution, Animal Behaviour Group, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. matthias.fuerst@rhul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Matthias A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fürst
authors.forename: Maëlle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Durey
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Nash
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002080:Butterflies / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D003710:Demography; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D012919:Social Behavior; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons