The predatory behaviour of a tramp ant species in its native range

C R Biol. 2005 Oct-Nov;328(10-11):1025-30. doi: 10.1016/j.crvi.2005.09.001. Epub 2005 Oct 27.

Abstract

Workers of the pest ant Paratrechina longicornis participate in a type of group hunting. Each individual forages with its long antennae wide open and moves quickly (6.3 cm/s) along an erratic path surrounded by nestmates behaving in the same way and within range of a recruiting pheromone. They detect prey by contact with successful workers singly capturing and retrieving small prey and seizing larger ones by an appendage. Then they recruit nestmates at short-range; all together they spread-eagle the prey and retrieve them whole.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Ants / physiology*
  • Cockroaches
  • Competitive Behavior
  • Exploratory Behavior
  • Periodicity
  • Pheromones / physiology
  • Predatory Behavior / physiology*
  • Sense Organs
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • Pheromones