Aversive Behavior and Competition within Colonies of the Ant Leptothorax curvispinosus

Publisher： Entomological Society of America

ISSN： 1938-2901

Source： Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Vol.67, Iss.5, 1974-09, pp. : 777-780

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Abstract

When Leptothorax curvispinosus Mayr workers are not regurgitating to the nest queens, they show moderate to strong aversive behavior toward this caste. Their response is not based upon aggression or dominance, but it has the effect of clearing the way to the larvae. The queens “graze” from one larva to another, licking liquid material from the region of the larval mouthparts. At least part of the liquid evidently consists of labial gland secretion. Although the queens appear to compete for the larval liquids in an exploitative fashion, they are not organized into dominance hierarchies of the vertebrate type, nor do they appear to recognize each other as individuals, beyond distinguishing their own eggs from those laid by other queens. Strong differential reproduction was recorded as the outcome of variation in the degrees of roughness with which queens handle alien eggs and differences in the fragility of the egg shells.