Kick Out The Ants: A Novel and Striking Behavior in Ant-Wasp Interactions

Authors

  • Leonardo Samuel Ricioli Universidade Federal de São Carlos
  • Gabriela C. Mendes Universidade Federal de São Carlos
  • Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira Universidade Federal de São Carlos

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v64i1.1199

Keywords:

Kleptoparasitism, mutualism, foraging, competition, savannah, Brazil

Abstract

Trophobiosis between ants and homopterans is widely known. Nevertheless, this interaction can also happen between treehoppers and other animals in a non-mutualistic way. For instance, here we observed the wasp Pseudopolybia vespiceps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) collecting honeydew flickered by Aethalion reticulatum (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) as an alternative food resource. Fieldwork was conducted during three consecutive days, when we made ad libitum behavioral observations using video footage. We noted the behavior of P. vespiceps when collecting honeydew from A. reticulatum. Strikingly, our observations resulted in the description of novel wasp behavior. The wasps compete with ants for access to treehoppers by kicking them out of the plant. Studies like this contribute to the understanding of trophic nets that depend on hemipteran honeydew.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Dejean, A. & Turillazzi, S. (1992) Territoriality during trophobiosis between wasps and homopterans. Tropical Zoology, 5: 237-247. doi: 10.1080/03946975.1992.10539196

Barônio, G., Pires, A. C. V. & Aoki, C. (2014). Trigona branneri (Hymenoptera: Apidae) as a collector of honeydew from Aethalion reticulatum (Hemiptera: Aethalionidae) on Bauhinia forficata (Fabaceae: Caesalpinoideae) in a Brazilian savanna. Sociobiology, 59: 407-414.

Breed, M.D., Cook, C. & Krasnec, M.O. (2012). Cleptobiosis in Social Insects. Psyche, 484765. doi:10.1155/2012/484765

de Souza, M. M., Louzada, J., Eduardo Serráo, J. & Cola Zanuncio, J. (2010). Social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) as indicators of conservation degree of riparian forests in Southeast Brazil. Sociobiology, 56: 387-396.

Del-Claro, K. & Oliveira, P. S. (1999). Ant-homoptera interactions in a neotropical savanna: the honeydew-producing treehopper, Guayaquila xiphias (Membracidae), and its associated ant fauna on Didymopanax vinosum (Araliaceae). Biotropica, 31: 135-144. doi: 10.2307/2663967

Del-Claro, K. & Oliveira, P.S. (2000) Conditional outcomes in a neotropical treehopper-ant association: temporal and species-specific variation in ant protection and homopteran fecundity. Oecologia, 124:156–165. doi:10.1007/s004420050002

Del-Claro, K., Rico-Gray, V., Torezan-Silingardi, H. M., Alves-Silva, E., Fagundes, R., Lange, D., ... & Rodriguez-Morales, D. (2016). Loss and gains in ant–plant interactions mediated by extrafloral nectar: fidelity, cheats, and lies. Insectes Sociaux, 63: 207-221. doi:10.1007/s00040-016-0466-2

Grangier, J. & Lester, P.J. (2011). A novel interference behaviour: invasive wasps remove ants from resources and drop them from a height. Biology Letters, rsbl20110165. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0165

Kaminski, L. A., Mota, L. L., Freitas, A. V. & Moreira, G. R. (2013). Two ways to be a myrmecophilous butterfly: natural history and comparative immature‐stage morphology of two species of Theope (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 108: 844-870. doi: 10.1111/bij.12014

Letourneau, D. K. & Choe, J. C. (1987). Homopteran attendance by wasps and ants: the stochastic nature of interactions. Psyche, 94: 81-91.

MacCarroll, M. A. & Reeves, W. K. (2004). Attendance of Aetalion reticulatum (Hemiptera: Aetalionidae) by Polistes erythrocephalus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Peru. Entomological News, 115: 52-53.

Oda, F. H., Aoki, C., Oda, T. M., da Silva, R. A. & Felismino, M. F. (2009). Interação entre abelha Trigona hyalinata (Lepeletier, 1836)(Hymenoptera: Apidae) e Aethalion reticulatum Linnaeus, 1767 (Hemiptera: Aethalionidae) em Clitoria fairchildiana Howard (Papilionoideae). Entomobrasilis, 2: 58-60.

Oda, F. H., de Oliveira, A. F. & Aoki, C. (2014). Oxytrigona tataira (Smith)(Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) as a collector of honeydew from Erechtia carinata (Funkhouser)(Hemiptera: Membracidae) on Caryocar brasiliense Cambessèdes (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) in the Brazilian Savanna. Sociobiology, 61: 566-569.

Stadler, B. & Dixon, A. F. (2005). Ecology and evolution of aphid-ant interactions. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 36: 345-372. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.091704.175531

Stefani, V., Pires, T. L., Torezan-Silingardi, H. M. & Del-Claro, K. (2015). Beneficial effects of ants and spiders on the reproductive value of Eriotheca gracilipes (Malvaceae) in a tropical savanna. PloS One, 10: e0131843. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131843

Styrsky, J. D. & Eubanks, M. D. (2007). Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 274: 151-164. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3701

Vieira, C. U., Rodovalho, C. D. M., Almeida, L. O., Siqueroli, A. C. S. & Bonetti, A. M. (2007). Interação entre Trigona spinipes Fabricius 1793 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) e Aethalion reticulatum Linnaeus 1767 (Hemiptera: Aethalionidae) em Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae). Bioscience Journal, 23: 10-13.

Downloads

Published

2017-05-30

How to Cite

Ricioli, L. S., Mendes, G. C., & Ferreira, R. G. (2017). Kick Out The Ants: A Novel and Striking Behavior in Ant-Wasp Interactions. Sociobiology, 64(1), 119–121. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v64i1.1199

Issue

Vol. 64 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Short Note

License

Sociobiology is a diamond open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

 

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 

    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).