Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:25:33.364Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE BEHAVIOR OF THREE SPECIES OF ANTS (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE): II. TRAIL FORMATION AND GROUP FORAGING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

G. L. Ayre
Affiliation:
Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture, Belleville, Ontario

Abstract

Methods of trail formation and organization of group foraging by the ants Formica obscuriventris Mayr, Myrmica americana Weber, and Crematogaster lineolata (Say) were studied under laboratory conditions. Each species was able to organize group travel to a persistent food source. M. americana and C. lineolata achieved this by using trail pheromones, the former species using these pheromones only to establish the trail and the latter using them in all stages of foraging. F. obscuriventris apparently did not use trail pheromones and each individual learned the route to the food independently.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayre, G. L. 1957. Ecological notes on Formica subnitens Creighton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insectes soc. 4: 173176.Google Scholar
Ayre, G. L. 1968. Comparative studies on the behavior of three species of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). I. Prey finding, capture, and transport. Can. Ent. 100: 165172.Google Scholar
Bossert, W. H., and Wilson, E. O.. 1963. The analysis of olfactory communication among animals. J. theoret. Biol. 5: 443469.Google Scholar
Fletcher, D. J. C., and Brand, J. M.. 1968. Source of the trail pheromone and method of trail laying in the ant Crematogaster peringueyi. J. Insect Physiol. 14: 783788.Google Scholar
Gösswald, K. 1951. Die rote Waldameise. Kinau Verlag, Lüneburg.Google Scholar
Lange, R. 1960. Modellversuche über den Nahrungsbedarf von Völkern der kahlrückigen Waldameise Formica polyctena Forst. Z. angew. Ent. 46: 200208.Google Scholar
Sudd, J. H. 1967. An introduction to the behavior of ants. Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., London.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. O. 1962 a. Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith) 1. The organization of mass-foraging. Anim. Behav. 10: 134147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, E. O. 1962 b. Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith) 2. An information analysis of the odor trail. Anim. Behav. 10: 148158.Google Scholar