Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks
ABSTRACT:The main of this research was to report an atypical foraging behavior in a colony of Trachymyrmex fuscus, situated in "Cerrado" (savanna ecoregion of Goiás, Brazil). The colony foraging activity was performed only by sexual caste. Comparison of the foraging rhythm of this colony w...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Federal de Santa Maria
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Ciência Rural |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-84782015005050189&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1811335644408971264 |
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| author | Márcio da Silva Araújo João Paulo Ribeiro Oliveira Danival José de Souza Marco Antônio Oliveira Flávio Gonçalves de Jesus |
| author_facet | Márcio da Silva Araújo João Paulo Ribeiro Oliveira Danival José de Souza Marco Antônio Oliveira Flávio Gonçalves de Jesus |
| author_sort | Márcio da Silva Araújo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT:The main of this research was to report an atypical foraging behavior in a colony of Trachymyrmex fuscus, situated in "Cerrado" (savanna ecoregion of Goiás, Brazil). The colony foraging activity was performed only by sexual caste. Comparison of the foraging rhythm of this colony with another of the same specie where foraging was performed only by worker caste, showed that working time hours were very similar. After observations on the foraging behavior, both colonies were excavated in order to characterize them (nest size, population composition and estimating of the symbiotic fungus volume). Besides the foraging activity performed only by sexual females, other important observations were highlighted in that colony: low number of workers, presence of worker larvae and pupae (45 and 43 respectively) and apparently normal growth of the symbiotic fungus. Our hypothesis is that sexual females were in charge of the entire colony maintenance. This could be a strategy of colony survival when the worker caste is reduced. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:27:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d33fdd6413754862b39e67d21b0b4533 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1678-4596 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:27:19Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Federal de Santa Maria |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ciência Rural |
| spelling | doaj.art-d33fdd6413754862b39e67d21b0b45332022-12-22T02:37:44ZengUniversidade Federal de Santa MariaCiência Rural1678-45962015-01-0100010.1590/0103-8478cr20150189S0103-84782015005050189Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasksMárcio da Silva AraújoJoão Paulo Ribeiro OliveiraDanival José de SouzaMarco Antônio OliveiraFlávio Gonçalves de JesusABSTRACT:The main of this research was to report an atypical foraging behavior in a colony of Trachymyrmex fuscus, situated in "Cerrado" (savanna ecoregion of Goiás, Brazil). The colony foraging activity was performed only by sexual caste. Comparison of the foraging rhythm of this colony with another of the same specie where foraging was performed only by worker caste, showed that working time hours were very similar. After observations on the foraging behavior, both colonies were excavated in order to characterize them (nest size, population composition and estimating of the symbiotic fungus volume). Besides the foraging activity performed only by sexual females, other important observations were highlighted in that colony: low number of workers, presence of worker larvae and pupae (45 and 43 respectively) and apparently normal growth of the symbiotic fungus. Our hypothesis is that sexual females were in charge of the entire colony maintenance. This could be a strategy of colony survival when the worker caste is reduced.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-84782015005050189&lng=en&tlng=enformiga cultivadora de fungoritmo de forrageamentodivisão de trabalhopolimorfismo. |
| spellingShingle | Márcio da Silva Araújo João Paulo Ribeiro Oliveira Danival José de Souza Marco Antônio Oliveira Flávio Gonçalves de Jesus Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks Ciência Rural formiga cultivadora de fungo ritmo de forrageamento divisão de trabalho polimorfismo. |
| title | Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks |
| title_full | Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks |
| title_fullStr | Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks |
| title_short | Sexual castes of Trachymyrmex fuscus (Formicidae: Attini) performing worker tasks |
| title_sort | sexual castes of trachymyrmex fuscus formicidae attini performing worker tasks |
| topic | formiga cultivadora de fungo ritmo de forrageamento divisão de trabalho polimorfismo. |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-84782015005050189&lng=en&tlng=en |
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