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Foraging behavior in the ant genus Messor

Authors:
Nicola J R Plowes at Mesa Community College
Nicola J R Plowes
Robert A Johnson at Arizona State University
Robert A Johnson
Bert Hölldobler
Bert Hölldobler
Bert Hölldobler
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The genus Messor consists of 113 species of seed harvesting ants that are found in grasslands, semi-arid areas and savan-nahs in both the Old and New World. A full spectrum of foraging strategies occurs in Messor, ranging from individual to group foraging, with the latter having evolved several times. This paper reviews foraging strategies and the underlying behavioral mechanisms found in species of Messor. The glandular origin of trail pheromones in Old World species examined thus far come from Dufour gland secretions, whereas New World species use secretions from the poison gland. The constituents of poison and Dufour glands are known for several species, but biologically active components have not been identified. In addition, two New World group foraging species (M. andrei, M. pergandei) possess pygidial glands that function during initiation of group foraging. Overall, this diverse genus deserves further study because it contains examples of behavioral convergence both within the genus and with other seed harvesting genera, such as Pogonomyrmex.
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... They have become closely associated with humans occupying their dwellings throughout the world, including metropolitan areas, despite great variation in geographical locations and habitant. Practically all ants are recognized by abdomen and elbowed antennae (Plowes et al., 2013).In desert, ants are major consumer of the seed of annual plants (Maina et al., 2013;Majer et al., 2011). They pick seeds directly from plants, and deposit the chaff on the kitchen maddens at the periphery of the mounds (Simcha et al., 2015). ...
... The harvester ants normally keep its nest clean all the time, for this reason they cause great damage to plant that are within their compounds (Arnan et al., 2012). Because of their feeding activities and colony formation harvester ants became problem to the society particularly to farmers (Tschinkel and Kwapich, 2016;Plowes et al., 2013). Harvester ants have become a major pest to farmer in some areas, this is because they swarm into houses, farm, lands and stores and injure seeds, seedlings, fruit and causing great economic losses by their activities (Plowes et al., 2013). ...
... Because of their feeding activities and colony formation harvester ants became problem to the society particularly to farmers (Tschinkel and Kwapich, 2016;Plowes et al., 2013). Harvester ants have become a major pest to farmer in some areas, this is because they swarm into houses, farm, lands and stores and injure seeds, seedlings, fruit and causing great economic losses by their activities (Plowes et al., 2013). Farming activity plays an important role in the ability of any nation to feed its citizen Therefore, if the farm produce are not properly protected, especially from the harvester ants the nation will continue to face problem in feeding her citizens (Okrikata et al., 2019). ...
EFFICACY OF AZADIRACHTA INDICA AND CAPSICUM ANNUUM POWDERS IN THE PROTECTION OF CEREAL SEEDS AGAINST HARVESTER ANTS MESSOR (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN MUBI, NIGERIA
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2021
Harvester ants (Messor) have become a major pest to farmers because they swarm in to houses, farms and injure seeds, seedlings, and fruits, causing great damage to plants that falls within their vicinity. This study compared the efficacy of Azadirachta indica (neem) and Capsicum annuum (chili pepper) powder for the protection of sorghum and millet grains against harvester ants (Messor) at graded levels. Four ants hills (A, B, C, and D) were identified around Adamawa State University Campus.1.0g, 2.0g and 3.0g of each of the treatment including the positive control (Rambo) was constituted in each ant hill on a petri dish and 100 seeds each for the 2 grains were added. A control (untreated) experiment was set up in every ant hill which contains 100 seeds for every grain but no treatment was added. The results revealed the efficacy of the treatments when compared will the untreated control, but Capsicum annuum performed significantly better. Millet grains were also preferred by the ants, as they recorded the highest number of picking. Therefore, a sustainable used of these plant products in the protection of grains in the field from harvester ants is encouraged in order to have a maximum yield.
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... In the early morning, workers select a foraging direction and depart en masse in a single column (rarely two). Workers may travel as a group for more than 40 m before fanning outward in search of seeds ( Plowes et al. 2013). When successful, each forager returns to the distal end of the chemically reinforced trail and carries a single seed back to the nest ( Plowes et al. 2014). ...
... It has been claimed that benzaldehyde is one of the components of the mandibular glands ( Blum et al. 1969); however, Hölldobler et al. (2013) found that this compound was wrongly attributed and in fact originates from the pygidial gland in the gaster. In V. pergandei, trail-following behavior is released by 1-phenyl ethanol from the poison gland found in the gaster ( Plowes et al. 2013), while n-tridecane, one component of the pygidial gland, acts as an excitement-recruitment pheromone during trail formation ( Hölldobler et al. 2013). ...
Destruction of Spiderwebs and Rescue of Ensnared Nestmates by a Granivorous Desert Ant ( Veromessor pergandei )
Article
  • May 2019
Prey species rarely seek out and dismantle traps constructed by their predators. In the current study, we report an instance of targeted trap destruction by an invertebrate and a novel context for rescue behavior. We found that foragers of the granivorous desert ant (Veromessor pergandei) identify and cooperatively dismantle spiderwebs (Araneae: Theridiidae, Steatoda spp., and Asagena sp.) During group foraging, workers ensnared in webs are recovered by sisters, which transport them to the nest and groom away their silk bindings. The presence of an ensnared nestmate and chemical alarm signal significantly increased the probability of web removal and nestmate retrieval. A subset of larger-bodied foragers participated in web removal, and 6.3% became tangled or were captured by spiders. Most animals that perform rescue behavior live in small groups, but V. pergandei colonies include tens of thousands of short-lived workers. To maintain their size, large colonies must collect enough seeds to produce 650 new ants each day. We hypothesize that the removal of spiderwebs allows for an unimpeded income of seeds on a single foraging path during a brief daily temperature window. Despite the cost to individuals, webs are recognized and removed only when workers are captured in them.
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... The highest number of species (9) was found in vineyard 1, whereas the lowest number of ant species (4) was observed in vineyard 3, that was characterized by the dominance of the aggressive Lasius niger (L.). Most of the ant species collected display a sugar feeding behavior and only the genus Messor consists of seed harvesting ants [25]. As integration of Figure 2, Figure 3 provides a statistic support of dominant ant species in each site, explaining near the 80% of inertia. ...
Use of Sugar Dispensers to Disrupt Ant Attendance and Improve Biological Control of Mealybugs in Vineyard
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2021
Planococcus ficus (Signoret) and Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuwana) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) are economically important pests occurring in vineyards, causing severe economic losses for growers and compromising bunch production. The partial effectiveness of insecticides used in controlling mealybug infestations as well as their high impact on the environment and on human health have led to the research of alternative and sustainable control methods, including biological control. Several natural enemies are reported to be effective against mealybugs, but their activity may be hindered by tending ants. These social insects are known to exhibit a mutualistic relationship with mealybugs, resulting in extremely aggressive behavior against beneficial insects. Consequently, this study explored a method to mitigate ant attendance by means of sugar dispensers in order to improve ecosystem services, as well as decrease mealybug infestation in vineyards. Field trials were carried out in four commercial vineyards of Northern Italy infested by mealybugs, in which Anagyrus vladimiri Triapitsyn (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were released as biological control agents. Our results showed that sugar dispensers reduced ant activity and mealybug infestation, leading to a significant enhancement of ecosystem services. The technique showed a great potential in boosting biological control against mealybugs in field conditions, though the field application seemed to be labour intensive and needs to be replicated for a multi-year evaluation.
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... Pour ramener les graines à la colonie, les ouvrières utilisent un réseau de pistes constitué de pistes à longue durée de vie (« trunk trail ») et de pistes éphémères (Plowes et al., 2013). Les pistes à longue durée de vie sont des chemins déblayés par les ouvrières qui peuvent mesurer jusqu'à 30 mètres de long (Cerdan, 1989;Reyes, 1986). ...
Biomécanique et énergétique de la locomotion et du transport de charge chez la fourmi
Thesis
  • Nov 2019
Lors de cette thèse, nous avons étudié la locomotion chez la fourmi Messor barbarus et la manière dont celle-ci est affectée par la charge transportée. Ce travail recouvre trois aspects de la locomotion : la cinématique des pattes, la dynamique du centre de masse de la fourmi et la dépense énergétique associée à la locomotion. Nous avons porté une attention particulière à l'effet de la taille de la fourmi sur la locomotion ainsi qu'à l'effet de la masse relative de la charge transportée. Ce travail a montré que, lors de la locomotion non chargée, les petites et grosses fourmis n'ont pas le même patron locomoteur, les grosses fourmis s'ajustant au déséquilibre induit par leur tête proportionnellement plus grosse. Pour les fourmis chargées, le patron locomoteur varie peu avec la taille de la fourmi et celles-ci doivent régulièrement s'agripper au substrat avec leurs pattes arrières afin de ne pas basculer vers l'avant. Pour les fourmis non chargées, ou chargées avec de petites charges, la trajectoire du centre de masse lors de la locomotion correspond aux démarches observées chez d'autres insectes. Cependant, une charge de masse relative trop importante rend la locomotion erratique. Enfin, nous avons mesuré le taux métabolique pour différentes fourmis non chargées et chargées avec des charges de masses variables. Les variations du taux métabolique sont cohérentes avec les résultats de la littérature sur d'autres espèces de fourmis. Grâce à ces expériences, nous avons pu calculer le taux auquel les fourmis ramènent de l'énergie à la colonie en fonction de leur masse et de la masse de la graine transportée. Afin de maximiser ce taux, les petites fourmis ont intérêt à récolter de petites graines, alors que les plus grosses fourmis devraient transporter des graines plus lourdes. Les résultats obtenus durant cette thèse permettront de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension de la division du travail, de l'écologie et du comportement d'approvisionnement chez l'espèce Messor barbarus.
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Trait-based paleontological niche prediction demonstrates deep time parallel ecological occupation in specialized ant predators
Preprint
Full-text available
  • Jun 2022
Understanding the paleoecology of species is fundamental to reconstructions of paleoecological communities, analyses of changing paleoenvironments, and the evolutionary history of many lineages. One method of establishing paleoecology is through comparing the morphology of extant analogs to extinct species; this method has been applied to many vertebrate groups using predictive linear models, but has been rarely applied using invertebrate taxa or non-linear frameworks. The ant fossil record, which frequently preserves specimens in three-dimensional fidelity, chronicles putative faunal turnover during the Late Cretaceous and into Cenozoic. The earliest fossil species comprise enigmatic stem-groups that underwent extinction concomitant with crown ant diversification. Here, we apply a wide-ranging extant ecomorphological dataset to demonstrate the utility of Random Forest machine learning classification in predicting the ecology of the stem-group hell ants. We reconstruct a predicted ecomorphological assemblage of this phenotypically aberrant group of extinct ants, and compare predicted hell ant ecologies to the ecological occupations of their closest living analogs, lineages of solitary predators with highly specialized mandibular morphology. In contrast to previous hypotheses, we find that hell ants were primarily leaf litter or ground-nesting and foraging taxa, and that the ecological breadth of this unusual lineage mirrored that of living groups. Results suggest ecological coherence between the Mesozoic and modern communities, even as the earliest occupants of predatory niches were phylogenetically and morphologically distinct.
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Desiccation limits recruitment in the pleometrotic desert seed‐harvester ant Veromessor pergandei
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2020
The desert harvester ant Veromessor pergandei displays geographic variation in colony founding with queens initiating nests singly (haplometrosis) or in groups (pleometrosis). The transition from haplo‐ to pleometrotic founding is associated with lower rainfall. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of cooperative founding in this species, but the ultimate explanation remains unanswered. In laboratory experiments, water level was positively associated with survival, condition, and brood production by single queens. Queen survival also was positively influenced by water level and queen number in a two‐factor experiment. Water level also was a significant effect for three measures of queen condition, but queen number was not significant for any measure. Foundress queens excavated after two weeks of desiccating conditions were dehydrated compared to alate queens captured from their natal colony, indicating that desiccation can be a source of queen mortality. Long‐term monitoring in central Arizona, USA, documented that recruitment only occurred in four of 20 years. A discriminant analysis using rainfall as a predictor of recruitment correctly predicted recruitment in 17 of 20 years for total rainfall from January to June (the period for mating flights and establishment) and in 19 of 20 years for early plus late rainfall (January–March and April–June, respectively), often with a posterior probability > 0.90. Moreover, recruitment occurred only in years in which both early and late rainfall exceeded the long‐term mean. This result also was supported by the discriminant analysis predicting no recruitment when long‐term mean early and late rainfall were included as ungrouped periods. These data suggest that pleometrosis in V. pergandei evolved to enhance colony survival in areas with harsh abiotic (desiccating) conditions, facilitating colonization of habitats in which solitary queens could not establish even in wet years. This favorable‐year hypothesis supports enhanced worker production as the primary advantage of pleometrosis. This manuscript addresses abiotic physiological tolerance of ant queens during colony founding, suggesting that grouping facilitates survival during favorable years when single queens could not survive. Moreover, grouping by ant queens may facilitate colonizing harsh environments in a manner similar to that suggested for cooperative breeding birds.
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Ant foraging strategies vary along a natural resource gradient
Article
  • Oct 2020
Food selection by foragers is sensitive to the availability of resources, which may vary along geographical gradients. Hence, selectivity of food types by foragers is expected to track these resource gradients. Here we addressed this hypothesis and asked if foraging decisions of seed‐eating ants differ along a geographic gradient of habitat productivity. The study was carried out for two years at five sites along a natural climatic gradient, ranging from arid to Mediterranean, where plant productivity varies six‐fold across a short geographic distance of 250 km. We found that in ant colonies of the genus Messor, collective foraging decisions differed along the gradient. Specifically, at the high‐productivity sites, a stronger association was found between plant seed availability and selectivity, suggesting that colonies respond more accurately to within‐patch variation in food amounts. In contrast, colonies in low‐productivity sites foraged in patches with higher concentration of seeds, suggesting that they respond more accurately to among‐patch variation in food amounts. Moreover, at the high‐productivity sites, colonies were more discriminating in their choice of food and preferred bigger seeds, while in the low‐productivity sites, where smaller seeds were relatively more abundant, food collection depended mostly on seed availability. An experiment with artificial seed patches performed along the same climatic gradient, revealed no difference in food selectivity across sites when food type and availability were similar, and a general preference for bigger over medium‐sized seeds. Overall, our findings suggest that resource availability is an important factor explaining food choice along a climatic gradient and imply that in low‐productivity regions small‐seeded species incur high predation pressure, whereas in high‐productivity regions, large‐seeded species suffer higher predation. This could have important consequences for plant species composition, particularly at the face of climate change, which could dramatically alter the foraging decisions of granivores.
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Révision taxonomique du genre Messor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) au Maghreb et description de Messor hodnii sp. n., une nouvelle espèce de fourmi trouvée en Algérie
Article
Full-text available
Messor hodnii n. sp. is a new species of myrmicine ant from Chott El Hodna in Algeria. The description and illustration is based on the worker caste. This species has a psammophore and it strongly resembles M. caviceps. Here, we provide a key to Messor species in the Maghreb region (North Africa), integrating the new species. Thirty-six taxa of this genus are recognized. New statuses are reported : M. postquadratus, M. postpetiolatus, M. punctaticeps, M. sordidus and M. santschii which raised to species; Messor hesperius is demoted to subspecies level as M. minor hesperius. We recommend to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify Messor hodnii n. sp. as critically endangered species (RC). Keywords : Formicidae - psammophore - palearctic - Chott El Hodna - conservation - IUCN.
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Not just going with the flow: foraging ants attend to polarised light even while on the pheromone trail
Article
Full-text available
The polarisation pattern of skylight serves as an orientation cue for many invertebrates. Solitary foraging ants, in particular, rely on polarised light to orient along with a number of other visual cues. Yet it is unknown, if this cue is actively used in socially foraging species that use pheromone trails to navigate. Here, we explore the use of polarised light in the presence of the pheromone cues of the foraging trail. The desert harvester ant, Veromessor pergandei, relies on pheromone cues and path integration in separate stages of their foraging ecology (column and fan, respectively). Here, we show that foragers actively orient to an altered overhead polarisation pattern, both while navigating individually in the fan and while on the pheromone-based column. These heading changes occurred during twilight, as well as in the early morning and late afternoon before sunset. Differences in shift size indicate that foragers attend to both the polarisation pattern and the sun’s position when available, yet during twilight, headings are dominated by the polarisation pattern. Finally, when the sun’s position was experimentally blocked before sunset, shift sizes increased similar to twilight testing. These findings show that celestial cues provide directional information on the pheromone trail.
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Odometry and backtracking: social and individual navigation in group foraging desert harvester ants (Veromessor pergandei)
Article
Full-text available
Veromessor pergandei harvester ants are group foragers which use a combination of social cues (pheromone-marked columns) and individual cues (e.g., self-generated movement, visual cues) when exploring foraging areas for resources. Upon finding food, individuals navigate back to the column, which guides their return to the nest. The direction and length of columns change between foraging bouts, and hence the end of the column (unlike the nest location) is non-stationary. We conducted displacement tests on returning foragers and present three novel findings. First, returning individual ants accurately estimate their distance from the foraging area to the end of the column. Second, ants that reached the column but only traveled a small proportion of the distance to the nest either show homeward or random orientation; random orientation was seen when the column was long. Third, ants that have traveled most of the way back to the nest along the column show backtracking when they are displaced—orienting in the direction opposite to the nest—similar to Australian desert ants Melophorus bagoti. This commonality suggests that some navigation strategies are general across species, and are utilized by ants that navigate individually or socially.
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Adnexal Glands Chemistry of Messor ebeninus Forel (Formicidae: Myrmicinae)
Article
Full-text available
Anabasine is the major volatile product in the poison gland exudate of Messor ebeninus, acting as a defensive compound. Exudates of the poison gland also contain minor, yet unidentified, components that are possibly responsible for the alarm behavior that is also elicited by the venom. Dufour’s gland secretion is characterized by aliphatic hydrocarbons of which 1-pentadecene predominates. Upon exposure to Dufour’s gland secretion the ants recruited to the emitting source, but did not exhibit any aggressive behavior. The possible concordant effects of both adnexal glands secretions is discussed.
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Seed preferences of the harvester Ant Messor barbarus in a mediterranean mosaic grassland (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2000
The harvesting behavior of the ant, Messor barbarus, was studied in a mosaic grassland of the Mediterranean area. Among the 78 seed species naturally occurring on the study site, nine species dominated the ants' retrieval in spring and in beginning of summer. Preferences of the ants were estimated from natural diet and related to the availability of seeds on areas used for foraging. M. barbarus preferentially harvested seeds of Sanguisorba minor, Homungia petraea, plantain (Plantago bellardii, P. coronopus), catchfly (Silene gallica) and wild oat (Avena fatua), of which seedling recruitment may be altered by the foraging activity of ants. In contrast, seeds from Cerastium sp., Chrysanthemum myconis, Crepis sp., two clover species (Trifolium angustifolium, T. arvense) and four grasses (Aira caryophyllea, Agrostis pallida, Holcus lanatus, Brachypodium distachyon) were collected less frequently than expected from their natural availability. Two grasses (Agrostis sp and Radiola linoides) were unused by this harvester ant. Ants' preference for a seed species could not be significantly related to the plant family, to the annual or perennial nature of the plant species or to seed productivity per crop. Only seed weight seemed to influence ant choices: seeds under 0.4mg were rarely retrieved, but 4-50mg seeds were harvested preferentially. This suggests that herbaceous plants living in this Mediterranean biotope might escape ant granivory by downsizing their seeds.
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Polymorphism and the foraging behaviour of the granivorous ant, Messor capensis (Mayr) (Formicidae: Myrmicinae)
Article
  • Jan 1991
Monophasic allometry occurs in Messor capensis with the largest worker about twice the size of the smallest. Diet, breadth relative to diaspore size is not enhanced by colony polymorphism. M. capensis is a group forager, making use of trunk trails. At the beginning of the harvesting season the number of trails varied between one and four. -from Authors
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Foraging behavior of the harvester ant Messor aciculatus in relation to the amount and distribution of food ( Setaria viridis).
Article
  • Jan 1982
Each ant collected seeds of Setaria viridis var. minor on its own defined ground, passing through almost the same and almost straight course. Strong site tenacity of foragers was shown. When much food was experimentally supplied near the nest, the number of aboveground ants rapidly increased. When there was no food, it decreased to several in a few days but never became zero. These several ants were fixed members and probably played the role of scout. When much food was supplied more than 1 m from the nest, only the few ants which found the food carried it repeatedly. Foragers can transmit information about the presence but not the location of food.-from Authors
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Factors affecting seed preference among Old World harvester ants of the genus Messor
Article
Abundant literature references suggest that seeds, in order to increase their dispersal capacity, developed elaiosomes in order to attract the ants (myrmecochory). Ants have even been reported to consume the elaiosomes only and to carry the remaining seeds out of the nest. Under standard laboratory conditions, foragers of Messor semirufus—a seed-harvesting ant species—do not discriminate between seeds of a myrmecochorous plant (Luzula multiflora) with elaiosomes and seeds from which the elaiosomes have been artificially removed. If confronted with an equal mass of seeds or of elaiosomes only, the ants regularly prefer the seeds. Elaiosomes glued to very light (≤ 5 mg), artificial seeds (styrofoam spheres coated with flour), elicited no transport into the nest among the ants. The same artificial seeds without elaiosomes but loaded with a 50 mg lead weight elicited a strong transport reaction. To explain these results, the following evolutionary steps are suggested: (1) Plant production of seeds with appendages containing food reserves in order to attract the ants. (2) Ant species broadening their alimentary spectrum to whole seeds and specializing essentially on this diet. (3) Ant ability to colonize xeric areas where seeds represent the main source of food. (4) Plant advantage to have a proportion of their seeds stored at great depths in the soil of desert habitats and the redundancy of the nutrient appendages on the seeds.
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Tournaments and slavery in a desert ant
Article
  • Jan 1976
Many species of ants engage in physical fighting when territorial borders are challenged. In contrast, colonies of the honeypot ant species Myrmecocystus mimicus conduct ritualized tournaments, in which hundreds of ants perform highly stereotyped display fights. Opposing colonies summon their worker forces to the tournament area by means of an alarm-recruitment system. When one colony is considerably stronger than the other, the tournament quickly ends, and the weaker colony is raided and its ants "enslaved." This is the first example of intraspecific slavery recorded in ants.
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Evolutionary aspects of foraging efficiency and niche shift in two sympatric seed-harvesting ants ( Messor ) (Hymenoptera Formicidae)
Article
Messor capitatus and M. structor often coexist in narrow sympatry in central Italy and show very similar food preferences. These two species differ markedly from each other in their recruitment mechanism. By measuring the foragers’ efficiency in transporting seeds into the nest, it appears that both species show a remarkable tendency to «re-create» the seed distribution most suited to its own recruiting mechanism. Such strategies, of course, imply a much greater number of foragers and longer handling times. The resulting apparent waste of energy can be justified by the fact that the gain obtained from a single seed is much greater than the energy necessary to search for and carrying it under any conceivable circumstances (Nielsen & Baroni Urbani 1990). Nevertheless, this way of «improving» the natural seed distribution may be difficult to explain by mutual competition alone. The same selection pressure acting on both species may have successively shaped their behaviour as follows: secondary loss of trophallaxis → inadequate food distribution within the nest → need to involve a higher number of foragers for seed transport in order to ensure better intranidal distribution. Nearctic seed harvesting ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex also seem to lack trophallactic behaviour, but it is argued that both genera are likely to have acquired this character by convergence as a secondary adaptation to solid food ingestion, rather than by common descent.
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