Social Organization and Subcaste Specialization in the Leaf-Cutting Ant Acromyrmex subterraneus (Formicidae: Myrmicinae)

Autor(es)

Calheiros, Ana C. ^[1] ; Ronque, Mariane U. V. ^[1] ; Oliveira, Paulo S. ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Progama Posgrad Ecol, CP 6109, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Biol Anim, CP 6109, BR-13083862 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Journal of Insect Behavior; v. 32, n. 4-6 OCT 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 1

Resumo

Several worker subcastes may occur in ant colonies, including physiological, morphological, and temporal subcastes. Leaf-cutting ants present intricate division of labor among worker subcastes during brood care, fungus garden maintenance, substrate foraging and processing. For colony survival, the fungus garden must be healthy, and tasks efficiently shared among worker subcastes. Therefore, worker behavior is key for colony maintenance in fungus-farming ants. Here we provide a qualitative and quantitative account of intracolonial behavior in Acromyrmex subterraneus, a common leaf-cutter in Brazilian Cerrado savanna. Quantitative ethograms showed that performance of major behavioral categories (e.g., ``Brood and Queen Care,{''} ``Foraging,{''} ``Fungus Care{''}) and the composition of behavioral repertoires are important parameters distinguishing labor among A. subterraneus worker subcastes. Media and major subcastes are behaviorally more similar to one another than to minors. Minors regularly executed brood- and fungus-related tasks, whereas media and majors executed mostly foraging-related tasks. Grooming was frequent in all subcastes. Overall, the behavioral patterns reported in A. subterraneus are similar to those reported for other leaf-cutters. The tasks executed by different subcastes of A. subterraneus closely resemble the division of labor observed in Atta colonies, suggesting that alongside the use of fresh leaves as culturing substrates, a highly conserved set of worker behaviors persist since the origin of the leaf-cutting lineage. Our work highlights the importance of detailed analyses of the composition of behavioral repertoires in polymorphic fungus-farming ants to better understand their social organization, and the mechanisms mediating division of labor among worker subcastes in the Attina. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/16645-1 - Ecologia molecular de formigas neotropicais
• Beneficiário: Paulo Sergio Moreira Carvalho de Oliveira
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 14/23141-1 - Ecologia de interações, ecologia comportamental e biologia molecular de formigas neotropicais
• Beneficiário: Paulo Sergio Moreira Carvalho de Oliveira
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular