The Guests of Ants : How Myrmecophiles Interact with Their Hosts
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| Parution | 19/07/2022 |
| Pages | 576 |
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Présentation
A fascinating examination of socially parasitic invaders, from butterflies to bacteria, that survive and thrive by exploiting the communication systems of ant colonies.
Down below, on sidewalks, in fallen leaves, and across the forest floor, a covert invasion is taking place. Ant colonies, revered and studied for their complex collective behaviors, are being infiltrated by tiny organisms called myrmecophiles. Using incredibly sophisticated tactics, various species of butterflies, beetles, crickets, spiders, fungi, and bacteria insert themselves into ant colonies and decode the colonies’ communication system. Once able to “speak the language,” these outsiders can masquerade as ants. Suddenly colony members can no longer distinguish friend from foe.
Pulitzer Prize–winning author and biologist Bert Hölldobler and behavioral ecologist Christina L. Kwapich explore this remarkable phenomenon, showing how myrmecophiles manage their feat of code-breaking and go on to exploit colony resources. Some myrmecophiles slip themselves into their hosts’ food sharing system, stealing liquid nutrition normally exchanged between ant nestmates. Other intruders use specialized organs and glandular secretions to entice ants or calm their aggression. Guiding readers through key experiments and observations, Hölldobler and Kwapich reveal a universe of behavioral mechanisms by which myrmecophiles turn ants into unwilling servants.
As The Guests of Ants makes clear, symbiosis in ant societies can sometimes be mutualistic, but, in most cases, these foreign intruders exhibit amazingly diverse modes of parasitism. Like other unwelcome guests, many of these myrmecophiles both disrupt and depend on their host, making for an uneasy coexistence that nonetheless plays an important role in the balance of nature.
Sommaire
Preface
1) Superorganisms: A Primer
-Mating and Colony Founding
-Division of Labor among Worker Ants
-Division of Labor in Reproduction
-Parasites inside the Superorganism
2) Inside and on the Bodies of the Ants
-Mutualistic Symbionts: The Case of Blochmannia
-Internal Parasites and Parasitoids that Affect the Ants’ Behavior
-Phoretic Myrmecophiles and Parasites on the Bodies of Host Ants
3) Recognition, Identity Theft, and Camouflage
-Nestmate Recognition
-Identity Theft and Other Means of Intrusion
-Cuticular Hydrocarbons Revisited
4) The Lycaenidae: Mutualists, Predators, and Parasites
-The Mutualists
-Predators and Socially Parasitic Myrmecophiles in the Genus Phengaris
-Miletine Predators, Tripartite Symbiosis, and Indirect Parasitism
-Parasitoids Attacking Lycaenid Myrmecophiles
5) Foraging Paths and Refuse Sites
-Ant-Mugging Flies on the Ants’ Trails
-Bengalia: Brood and Booty Snatcher Flies
-The Beetle Amphotis marginata: Highwayman of Lasius fuliginosus
-Predators and Scavengers: The Story of Some Pella Species
-On the Ants’ Trails
6) Spiders and Other Mimics, Pretenders, and Predators
-Transformational and Compound Mimics
-Collective Mimicry
-Backpacks, Shields, and False Heads
-Locomotory Mimicry
-Odor Cloaks
-Phoretic Spiders Take Flight
-Spider Predators of Veromessor pergandei
7) The Mysteries of Myrmecophilous Crickets
-Strigilators and Thieves
-Specialized Mouthparts
-Host-Specialists and Host-Generalists
-Odor Mimicry and Trail Following
-The Mystery of Cricket Body Size
-Phenotypic Plasticity and Cryptic Speciation
-Gaster Mimicry and Egg Mimicry
-Island Endemics and Island Hoppers
8) Grades of Myrmecophilous Adaptations
-Pella humeralis: The Predator and Scavenger
-Dinarda Beetles: The Sneaky Thieves
-Breaking the Code: Lomechusa and Lomechusoides
-Claviger: Pretending to Be a Piece of Booty?
-Paussinae: The Myrmecophilous Dracula Beetles
9) Myrmecophiles in the Ecosystem of Ant Nests
-The Nest Ecosystem of the Harvester Ant Pogonomyrmex badius
-The Role of Myrmecophiles in the Ecosystem of Mound-Building Wood Ants
-The Case of Army Ants, Especially the Leptogenys “Army Ants”
-Networks and Colony-Level Censuses
-Infestation by Myrmecophilous Parasites and Colony Traits
10) Vertebrates and Ants
-Myrmecophiles of a Feather
-Anting
-Fish and Amphibious Associates
-Reptile Eggs in Ant Nests
-Horned Lizards, Blind Snakes, and Legless Lizards
Epilogue
Glossary
References
Acknowledgments
Index
- 32 lectures
Bibliothèque