2014/06/17 by Alain Déjean, Frédéric Azémar, Olivier Roux · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Plant and animal studies #Insect and Pesticide Research #Pheidole #Counterattack #Formicoidea #Biology #Atta #Nest (protein structural motif) #Ecology #Hymenoptera #Zoology #Forestry #Geography #Aculeata
paper · doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2014.05.004
openalex publication_date 2014/06/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
In the Neotropics where it was introduced, the invasive ant Pheidole megacephala counterattacked raids by the army ants Eciton burchellii or E. hamatum. The Eciton workers that returned to their bivouac were attacked and spread-eagled and most of them killed by their outgoing colony mates. Little by little the zone where returning and outgoing Eciton workers encountered one another moved away from the Pheidole nest which was no longer attacked, so that most of the colony was spared. Using a water-based technique rounded out by bioassays, we show that Pheidole compounds were transferred onto the Eciton cuticle during the counterattacks, so that outgoing workers do not recognize returning colony mates, likely perceived as potential prey. Because P. megacephala is an introduced African species, this kind of protection, which cannot be the result of coevolutive processes, corresponds to a kind of by-product due to its aggressiveness during colony defence.