Ecologia comportamental de Ectatomma opaciventre (Formicidae, Ponerinae) : forrageamento e organização social

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

1998

RESUMO

The ant Ectatomma opaciventre is exc1usively diurnal, restraining theforaging activity at midday. The diet is typically omnivorous, where termites workers and leaf-cutting ants were the most important food items. Contrary to other Ectatomma species, no liquid food like homopteran honeydew or plant nectar was collected. The foragers showed individual foraging area fidelity, but the paths were not so precise and stable as reported for other ponerine species. The foraging strategy employed by E. opaciventre was ofindividual foraging, i.e., there was no cooperation between foragers in the search for or retrieval of food, neither by tandem running nor by trail laying. Even though the spatial distribution of nests showed significant hyperdispersion, the nests tended to occur in specific microenvironments. The behavioral repertoire of a mature colony is described. Twenty eight different behavioral acts were recorded from 4538 individual records. There was evidence oftemporal polyethism, with young workers performing significantly more brood care and allogrooming than older workers. E. opaciventre shows an organized form of nest relocation, with a few workers specializing in transporting other adult workers. The carrying posture is similar to other ponerines, although some idiosyncratic features are detected

ASSUNTO(S)

ecologia formiga

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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