Polydomy in the ant Ectatomma opaciventre.
Tropical ants commonly exhibit a hyper-dispersed pattern of spatial distribution of nests. In polydomous species, nests may be satellites, that is, secondary structures of the main nest, where the queen is found. In order to evaluate whether the ant Ectatomma opaciventre Roger (Formicidae: Ectatomminae) uses the strategy of building polydomous nests, the spatial distribution pattern of 33 nests in a 1,800 m(2) degraded area located in Rio Claro, SP, Brazil, were investigated using the nearest neighbor method. To complement the results of this investigation, the cuticular chemical profile of eight colonies was analyzed using Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS). The nests of E. opaciventre presented a hyper-dispersed or regular distribution, which is the most common in ants. The analysis of the cuticular hydrocarbons apparently con-firmed the hypothesis that this species is polydomous, since the chemical profiles of all studied colonies with nests at different sites were very similar to the chemical signature of the single found queen and were also different from those of colonies used as control.
Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho", Instituto de Biociências, Centro de estudos de Insetos Sociais (CEIS), Rio Claro/SP, Brazil vivitofolo@yahoo.com.br.
Viviane C
VC
Tofolo
Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho", Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Zoologia, Rio Claro/SP, Brazil edilgian@rc.unesp.br.
Edilberto
E
Giannotti
Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Dourados, Programa de pós-graduação em Entomologia e Con-servação da Biodiversidade, MS, Brazil erika_snakes@yahoo.com.br.
Erika F
EF
Neves
Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS), Centro Integrado de Análise e Monitoramento Ambiental, Dourados/MS, Brazil luis_hca@yahoo.com.
Luis H C
LH
Andrade
Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS), Centro Integrado de Análise e Monitoramento Ambiental, Dourados/MS, Brazil smlima@uems.br.
Sandro M
SM
Lima
Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS), Centro Integrado de Análise e Monitoramento Ambiental, Dourados/MS, Brazil yzel@uems.br.
Yzel R
YR
Súarez
Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS), Centro Integrado de Análise e Monitoramento Ambiental, Dourados/MS, Brazil williamantonialli@yahoo.com.br.
William F
WF
Antonialli-Junior
D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D012919:Social Behavior; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
colony organization; cuticular hydrocarbons; nestmate recognition; satellite nests; spatial distribution