Ant supercolony

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Large anthill in South Tyrol 2013-05-09 Ameisenhaufen in Sudtirol Formicidae anagoria.JPG
Large anthill in South Tyrol

An ant supercolony is an exceptionally large ant colony, consisting of a high number of spatially separated but socially connected nests of a single ant species (meaning that the colony is polydomous), spread over a large area without territorial borders. Supercolonies are typically polygynous, containing many egg-laying females (queens or gynes). [1] [2] Workers and queens from different nests within the same supercolony can freely move among the nests, and all workers cooperate indiscriminately with each other in collecting food and care of the brood, and show no apparent mutual aggressive behavior. [3] [4]

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As long as suitable unoccupied space with sufficient resources is available, supercolonies expand continuously through budding, as queens together with some workers migrate over short distances and establish a new connected nest. The supercolony can also expand over long distances through jump-dispersal, potentially ranging between continents. [2] Jump-dispersal usually occurs unintentionally through human-mediated transport. A striking example of an ant species forming supercolonies across continents is the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). The also highly invasive red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) and Solenopsis geminata additionally use classic mating flights, thus using three primary modes of dispersal. [5] [6] Out of some 14,000 described ant species, supercolonialism is found in less than 1% of all ants. [2]

In general, ants that form supercolonies are invasive and harmful in the non-native environments. [7] While not all supercolonial species are invasive and not all invasive ants are dominant, supercolonies are usually associated with invasive populations. Some invasive species are known to form supercolonies in their native habitat as well. In their native range, relatively small supercolonies are observed, whereas they are much larger, dominant and a threat for ecological diversity in their invasive range. [4] Exceptions of species that form supercolonies without being invasive are mainly found in the genus Formica. [2]

Although supercolonies are mainly observed in relatively few ant species, similar unicolonial populations are also found in some species of the termite genus Reticulitermes .

Unicoloniality versus supercoloniality

Large trail of ants Ants .jpg
Large trail of ants

Initially, it was hypothesized that unicoloniality is a characteristic of certain ant species in which all workers of that species are amicable, whatever their nest of origin. So, all members of the species would accept each other, irrespective of the nest of origin and irrespective of the distance between the nests. In contrast, multicoloniality is the common characteristic of ants to show all colonies being aggressive to each other, including different colonies of the same species. A supercolony would be a large aggregation of nests of a species that normally would exhibit multicoloniality, but in the case of a supercolony has all workers from all connected nests being non-aggressive to each other. The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), forming megacolonies of spatially separate nests, was thought to be a perfect example of unicoloniality, never exhibiting multicoloniality. [8]

Giraud et al. (2002), however, discovered that L. humile also forms supercolonies that are aggressive to each other, so unicoloniality turned out to be limited. They hypothesized that the difference between supercoloniality and unicoloniality is not clear-cut, but that they are rather points on a continuum between two extremes: multicoloniality with all colonies generally being aggressive to each other, contrasted with unicoloniality with absolute absence of aggression between colonies, and supercoloniality somewhere in between. [8]

Therefore, Pedersen et al. (2006) redefined supercoloniality and unicoloniality as follows:

Supercolony: A colony that contains such a large number of nests that direct cooperative interactions are impossible between individuals in distant nests. There are no behavioral boundaries (aggression) within the supercolony.
Unicolonial: A unicolonial species is one that can form supercolonies. A unicolonial population consists of one or several supercolonies.

They suggest that the success of invasive ants such as L. humile stem from the ecological conditions in the introduced range that allow to dramatically extend the dimension of supercolonies, rather than from a shift in social organization in the invaded habitat. [9]

Supercolonies in termites

Although supercolonies are mainly observed in relatively few ant species, similar unicolonial populations are also found in some species of the termite genus Reticulitermes .

In France, a supercolony of the invasive termite species Reticulitermes urbis was observed, covering about seven hectares, similar to an ant supercolony. [10] Invasive unicolonial metapopulations of Reticulitermes flavipes in Toronto, Canada are described in 2012. They can cover tens of kilometers, number hundreds of thousands or millions of individuals and show lack of intercolony aggression. Especially in urban habitats they form area-wide supercolonies. [11]

Examples

Species known to form supercolonies are: (see also the list on AntWiki [1] )

Formica

A supercolony of Formica obscuripes in the US state of Oregon, consisting of more than 200 nests and an estimated population of 56 million individuals was described in 1997. [12]

The Ishikari supercolony of Formica yessensis on Hokkaido, Japan comprise estimated more than 45,000 nests, more than 300,000,000 workers and more than 1,000,000 queens. [4]

Tapinoma

Three of the four species identified in the `Tapinoma nigerrimum complex´ are known as supercolonial: T. darioi , T. ibericum and T. magnum . Tapinoma nigerrimum is monodomous to moderately polydomous, multicolonial, and supercoloniality is unknown. [15]

Tapinoma sessile lives in its natural habitat in small colonies. Invaded in urban areas, it exhibits extreme polygyny and polydomy and becomes a dominant invasive pest. Dependent on the season, the number of nests in the colony may alternately fuse into one or a few in winter and grow from spring, to reach maximum nest density in summer. Their early-season population growth is exponentially. In general, T. sessile colonies move on a regular basis. They establish trails between nest and food resources, and to colonise new areas. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ant</span> Family of insects

Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.

Most ants are capable of biting, stinging, and spraying irritant chemicals. However, only relatively few species can harm humans; among which some can cause significant injury or, in rare cases, death. Like wasps, individual ants are capable of stinging multiple times as they do not lose their stingers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow crazy ant</span> Species of ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes)

The yellow crazy ant, also known as the long-legged ant or Maldive ant, is a species of ant, thought to be native to West Africa or Asia. They have been accidentally introduced to numerous places in the world's tropics.

<i>Formica exsecta</i> Species of ant

Formica exsecta is a species of ant found from Western Europe to Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red imported fire ant</span> Invasive ant species

Solenopsis invicta, the fire ant, or red imported fire ant (RIFA), is a species of ant native to South America. A member of the genus Solenopsis in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was described by Swiss entomologist Felix Santschi as a variant of S. saevissima in 1916. Its current specific name invicta was given to the ant in 1972 as a separate species. However, the variant and species were the same ant, and the name was preserved due to its wide use. Though South American in origin, the red imported fire ant has been accidentally introduced in Australia, New Zealand, several Asian and Caribbean countries, Europe and the United States. The red imported fire ant is polymorphic, as workers appear in different shapes and sizes. The ant's colours are red and somewhat yellowish with a brown or black gaster, but males are completely black. Red imported fire ants are dominant in altered areas and live in a wide variety of habitats. They can be found in rainforests, disturbed areas, deserts, grasslands, alongside roads and buildings, and in electrical equipment. Colonies form large mounds constructed from soil with no visible entrances because foraging tunnels are built and workers emerge far away from the nest.

<i>Formica</i> Genus of ants

Formica is a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, including species commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. Formica is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type species of genus Formica is the European red wood ant Formica rufa. Ants of this genus tend to be between 4 and 8 mm long. Ants belonging to the Formica genus possess a single knob or bump located between their thorax and abdomen. These ants primarily feed on honeydew, a sugary liquid produced by aphids. Formica ants appear to take on a shepherding role with smaller aphids, relocating them to different parts of plants to ensure a continuous food source for the aphids. By doing so, the ants can establish a relatively sustainable honeydew supply for both themselves and their colony.

<i>Formica rufa</i> species group Group of ants

The Formica rufa group is a subgeneric group within the genus Formica, first proposed by William Morton Wheeler. This group contains the mound-building species of Formica commonly termed "wood ants" or "thatch-mound ants", which build prominent nests consisting of a mound of grass, litter, or conifer needles. The species Formica rufa or the red wood ant is the type species of this subgroup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ant colony</span> Underground lair where ants live, eat, and tend eggs

An ant colony is a population of ants, typically from a single species, capable of maintaining their complete lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, communal, and efficiently organized and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution. The typical colony consists of one or more egg-laying queens, numerous sterile females and, seasonally, many winged sexual males and females. In order to establish new colonies, ants undertake flights that occur at species-characteristic times of the day. Swarms of the winged sexuals depart the nest in search of other nests. The males die shortly thereafter, along with most of the females. A small percentage of the females survive to initiate new nests.

<i>Tapinoma sessile</i> Species of ant

Tapinoma sessile is a species of small ant that goes by the common names odorous house ant, sugar ant, stink ant, and coconut ant. Their colonies are polydomous and polygynous. Like many social insects, T. sessile employs complex foraging strategies, allocates food depending on environmental conditions, and engages in competition with other insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentine ant</span> Species of ant

The Argentine ant is an ant native to northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil. This invasive species was inadvertently introduced by humans on a global scale and has become established in many Mediterranean climate areas, including South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Easter Island, Australia, the Azores, Europe, Hawaii, and the continental United States. Argentine ants are significant pests within agricultural and urban settings, and are documented to cause substantial harm to communities of native arthropods, vertebrates, and plants within their invaded range.

<i>Pheidole megacephala</i> Species of ant

Pheidole megacephala is a species of ant in the family Formicidae. It is commonly known as the big-headed ant in the US and the coastal brown ant in Australia. It is a very successful invasive species and is considered a danger to native ants in Australia and other places. It is regarded as one of the world's worst invasive ant species.

<i>Formica obscuripes</i> Species of ant

Formica obscuripes, the western thatching ant, is a species of ant in the family Formicidae. It is native to North America. It produces large mounds covered by small pieces of plant material. The number of adult workers per colony may be as high as 40,000. F. obscuripes feeds upon a number of insect species, consumes nectar from homopterous insects they tend, and occasionally eats plant tissue.

Trail pheromones are semiochemicals secreted from the body of an individual to affect the behavior of another individual receiving it. Trail pheromones often serve as a multi purpose chemical secretion that leads members of its own species towards a food source, while representing a territorial mark in the form of an allomone to organisms outside of their species. Specifically, trail pheromones are often incorporated with secretions of more than one exocrine gland to produce a higher degree of specificity. Considered one of the primary chemical signaling methods in which many social insects depend on, trail pheromone deposition can be considered one of the main facets to explain the success of social insect communication today. Many species of ants, including those in the genus Crematogaster use trail pheromones.

<i>Doleromyrma darwiniana</i> Species of ant

Doleromyrma darwiniana is a species of ant in the genus Doleromyrma. Described by Forel in 1907, the species is endemic to Australia and introduced to New Zealand, and it nests in soil or under stones and logs. The organism grows to a length between 2.0 and 3.0 millimeters. This species of ant maintains small colony sizes and it "prefers protein food." The species is also known by some sources as the "brown house ant" and "Darwin's ant". The species is considered a "minor urban pest" in New South Wales.

<i>Formica truncorum</i> Species of ant

Formica truncorum is a species of wood ant from the genus Formica. It is distributed across a variety of locations worldwide, including central Europe and Japan. Workers can range from 3.5 to 9.0mm and are uniquely characterized by small hairs covering their entire bodies. Like all other ants, F. truncorum is eusocial and demonstrates many cooperative behaviors that are unique to its order. Colonies are either monogynous, with one queen, or polygynous, with many queens, and these two types of colonies differ in many characteristics.

<i>Trichomyrmex destructor</i> Species of ant

Trichomyrmex destructor is a species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Its common names include destructive trailing ant or Singapore ant. It is a pest species in urban areas, known for causing costly damage to structures, vehicles, and electronic devices with its chewing activity. In 2015, the species was moved from the genus Monomorium to the revised genus Trichomyrmex.

<i>Plagiolepis alluaudi</i> Species of ant

Plagiolepis alluaudi, the little yellow ant, is a species of Plagiolepis. The species is native to Madagascar, an island off the coast of East Africa. It is known to be a widespread invasive species. In an effort to distinguish its name from other small and yellow species of ant it may be called Alluaud's little yellow ant, after Charles A. Alluaud.

The social networks of colonies of social insects have been extensively studied as model biological networks.

In ecology, a tramp species is an organism that has been spread globally by human activities. The term was coined by William Morton Wheeler in the bulletin of the American museum of natural history in 1906, used to describe ants that “have made their way as well known tramps or stow-aways[sic] to many islands The term has since widened to include non-ant organisms, but remains most popular in myrmecology. Tramp species have been noted in multiple phyla spanning both animal and plant kingdoms, including but not limited to arthropods, mollusca, bryophytes, and pteridophytes. The term "tramp species" was popularized and given a more set definition by Luc Passera in his chapter of David F William's 1994 book Exotic Ants: Biology, Impact, And Control Of Introduced Species.

References

  1. 1 2 Supercolonies. AntWiki (July 2022 accessed)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Outnumbered: a new dominant ant species with genetically diverse supercolonies in Ethiopia. D.M. Sorger et al.; Insectes Sociaux no. 64, issue 1, Feb 2017 (full text). doi:10.1007/s00040-016-0524-9
  3. ↑ Success of Introduced Argentine Ants Tied to Reduced Genetic Variation. Kim McDonald, University of California, May 2000
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Supercolonies of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): ecological patterns, behavioural processes and their implications for social evolution. Heikki Helanterä, Myrmecol. News 32: 1-22, 2022. doi:10.25849/myrmecol.news_032:001 (open access, CC-BY)
  5. ↑ Patterns of spread in biological invasions dominated by long-distance jump dispersal: Insights from argentine ants. Andrew V. Suarez, David A. Holway, Ted J. Case, 2001 (full text); doi:10.1073/pnas.98.3.1095
  6. ↑ A risk analysis for fire ants in the Netherlands. Jinze Noordijk, EIS, Nov 2010. via
  7. 1 2 3 Reduced genetic variation and the success of an invasive species. Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA no. 97, May 2000
    "We defined a supercolony as a group of nests among which intraspecific aggression was absent."
  8. 1 2 Evolution of supercolonies: The Argentine ants of southern Europe. Tatiana Giraud, Jes S. Pedersen, en Laurent Keller, 2002. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99: 6075-6079 (doi:10.1073/pnas.092694199). Publication
  9. ↑ Native supercolonies of unrelated individuals in the invasive Argentine ant. JS Pedersen et al., Evolution Vol 60, Issue 4, 2006 (full text). doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2006.tb01156.x
  10. ↑ Unicoloniality in Reticulitermes urbis: A novel feature in a potentially invasive termite species. Laurianne Leniaud et al., Bull. of Entomol. Res., Vol 99, Issue 1, 2008 (full text). doi:10.1017/S0007485308006032
  11. ↑ Genetic Evidence for Multiple Invasions of the Eastern Subterranean Termite Into Canada. Scaduto et al., Environl Entomol., Vol 41, Issue 6, 2012 (full article). doi:10.1603/EN12158
  12. 1 2 J. McIver, T. Torgersen and N. Cimon. A supercolony of the thatch ant Formica obscuripes Forel (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) from the Blue Mountains of Oregon. Northwest Science vol 71 issue 1, Feb 1997 (full-text)
  13. ↑ Nasty little yellow ant establishes first U.S. colonies in Fort Lauderdale. David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel, 2 Nov 2017 (archived)
  14. ↑ The Guianese population of the fire ant Solenopsis saevissima is unicolonial. Lenoir et al., Insect Science vol 23 issue 5, May 2015.
  15. 1 2 Four species within the supercolonial ants of the Tapinoma nigerrimum complex revealed by integrative taxonomy (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Seifert et al., Myrmecological News, March 2017. Complete pdf (7,2 MB)
  16. 1 2 Seasonal polydomy in a polygynous supercolony of the odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile. Grzegorz Buczkowski and Gary Bennett, Ecological Entomology vol 33 issue 6, Dec 2008; Summary on Researchgate.
    "The supercolony of T. sessile occupied a total of 90 different nesting sites […] Tapinoma sessile may be highly polygynous, polydomous, and can attain enormous population sizes, much like the invasive L. humile."
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