Use of stridulation in foraging leaf-cutting ants: mechanical support during cutting or short-range recruitment signal? |
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Authors: | F Roces Bert Hölldobler |
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Institution: | Theodor-Boveri-Institut, Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensphysiologie und Soziobiologie der Universit?t, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany, DE
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Abstract: | Foraging leaf-cutting ant workers stridulate while cutting a leaf fragment. Two effects of stridulation have recently been
identified: (i) attraction of nestmates to the cutting site, employing substrate-borne stridulatory vibrations as short-range
recruitment signals, and (ii) mechanical facilitation of the cut via a vibratome-effect. We asked whether foragers actually
stridulate to support their cutting behavior, or whether the mechanical facilitation is an epiphenomenon correlated with the
use of stridulation as recruitment signal. To differentiate between the two alternatives, workers of two different Atta species were presented with tender leaves of invariant physical traits, and their motivation to initiate recruitment was
manipulated by varying the palatability of the leaves and the starvation of the colony. The lower the palatability of the
harvested leaves, the lower the percentage of workers that stridulated while cutting, irrespective of the leaf’s physical
features. After intense feeding, no workers were observed to stridulate while cutting tender leaves, and the percentage of
stridulating workers increased with deprivation time. The results support the hypothesis that leaf-cutting ant workers stridulate
during cutting in order to recruit nestmates, and that the observed mechanical facilitation of stridulation is an epiphenomenon
of recruitment communication.
Received: 25 January 1996/Accepted after revision: 13 July 1996 |
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Keywords: | Leaf-cutting ants Atta cephalotes Stridulation Foraging Recruitment |
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