title: The Pied Piper: A Parasitic Beetle's Melodies Modulate Ant Behaviours.
abstract: Ants use various communication channels to regulate their social organisation. The main channel that drives almost all the ants' activities and behaviours is the chemical one, but it is long acknowledged that the acoustic channel also plays an important role. However, very little is known regarding exploitation of the acoustical channel by myrmecophile parasites to infiltrate the ant society. Among social parasites, the ant nest beetles (Paussus) are obligate myrmecophiles able to move throughout the colony at will and prey on the ants, surprisingly never eliciting aggression from the colonies. It has been recently postulated that stridulatory organs in Paussus might be evolved as an acoustic mechanism to interact with ants. Here, we survey the role of acoustic signals employed in the Paussus beetle-Pheidole ant system. Ants parasitised by Paussus beetles produce caste-specific stridulations. We found that Paussus can "speak" three different "languages", each similar to sounds produced by different ant castes (workers, soldiers, queen). Playback experiments were used to test how host ants respond to the sounds emitted by Paussus. Our data suggest that, by mimicking the stridulations of the queen, Paussus is able to dupe the workers of its host and to be treated as royalty. This is the first report of acoustic mimicry in a beetle parasite of ants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Viale G. Marconi 446, I-00146 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Giulio
authors.affiliation: Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Viale G. Marconi 446, I-00146 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maurizi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, I-10123 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barbero
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, I-10123 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.affiliation: CE3C-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores-Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fattorini
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, I-10123 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Balletto
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, I-10123 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonelli
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000502:physiology*; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D013016:Sound