Competition avoidance and tandem recruitment in the neotropical ant Pachycondyla harpax (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

• Grant number: 19/01148-8
• Support type: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Duration: February 25, 2019 - March 17, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior
• Principal researcher: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Grantee: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Visiting researcher: Christoph Grueter
• Visiting researcher institution: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Many ant species use a form of recruitment called 'tandem running', whereby an informed individual guides an uninformed nestmate to a resource. Tandem running is currently the only known example of 'teaching' in non-mammals and represents a promising behaviour to study the benefits of social information at both individual and colony level. This project proposes to use tandem running in ants to test the role of competition among Neotropical ant species as a factor promoting communication about food source locations. (AU)