Euprenolepis procera | |
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Workers of Euprenolepis procera feeding on a Pleurotus mushroom | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Formicinae |
Genus: | Euprenolepis |
Species: | E. procera |
Binomial name | |
Euprenolepis procera (Emery, 1900) | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Euprenolepis procera is a species of ant found in the rainforests of South East Asia. [2] It was first described by Carlo Emery, an Italian entomologist, in 1900. [3] In 2008, Witte & Maschwitz discovered that E. procera specialises in harvesting mushrooms in the rainforest for food, representing a new, previously unreported feeding strategy in ants. [2]
Euprenolepis procera is endemic to South East Asia, being found in the rainforests of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. [1] In Malaysia, where they have been studied, individual colonies were recorded to occur at a density of one nest per approximately 150 m2, but Witte & Maschwitz stated this may be an underestimate as they may not have discovered some colonies. [2]
This species was first described in 1900 by Carlo Emery, under the name Prenolepis procera; [1] Emery based his description on material collected by the Italian anthropologist Elio Modigliani in his travels in Malesia. [4] Emery assigned the species to the subgenus Euprenolepis in 1905, and moved that subgenus to the genus Paratrechina in 1925. In 1995, Bolton raised the subgenus to the rank of genus, giving the species its current name. [1]
In 1913, Auguste-Henri Forel described a new species, Camponotus (Myrmosphincta) antespectans, which was also moved to Euprenolepis by Emery. This is now considered a synonym of E. procera. [1]
The workers are polymorphic, consisting of a minor (body length = 3.5–4.5 millimetres or 0.14–0.18 inches) and major caste (body length = 5–6 mm or 0.20–0.24 in); the major caste is relatively rare compared to the minor caste. The workers' heads are heart-shaped, broader than they are long and a "dark-reddish brown" colour. The antennae of both worker castes are made up of twelve segments and are a lighter colour than their heads, their mandibles have five teeth. The major workers superficially resemble species of Pseudolasius . [1]
The queens and males have larger eyes than the workers, and also have three pronounced simple eyes as well. The queens are covered in a dense layer of hairs. The antennae of the males are made of thirteen segments, unlike twelve in workers, and their mandibles have only one well-developed tooth. The queens are a similar colour to the workers, but have mottled areas that are a lighter colour than the rest of the body. [1]
Euprenolepis procera is nocturnal, only foraging for food at night, venturing up to 40 metres (130 ft) from the nest, but on average around 12 m (40 ft). It lives in colonies of between 500 and 50,000 individuals, forming nests inside preformed cavities, rather than constructing nests themselves. They migrate regularly, staying in each location for between one and nine days; these migrations are thought to be necessary as the colony quickly depletes available food near its nest. Similar adaptations to unpredictable food resources are common to all harvester ants, but only seen in two other types of ant: army ants which migrate into new foraging areas and Dolichoderus transport their trophobiont mealybugs to parts of plants that are growing. [2]
Over 200 species of ants are known to eat fungi as a major part of their diet, but these ants in the Attini tribe have co-evolved with fungi, forming a mutualism that benefits both the fungus and the ants. [5] Unlike similar ants found in the New World, E. procera does not cultivate fungi in its nest, but instead harvests the sporocarp of fungi (mushrooms) from the rainforest in which it lives as its primary source of food. It is the only species of ant known to have such a feeding habit. [2] When it was first reported in 2008, Bert Hölldobler, an expert on ants, called the discovery "sensational" and said "nothing like that was known before". [6] They have been observed to eat over 30 species of mushroom, but they also ignore 50 species present in their habitat; of those that they do eat, the mushrooms often occurred near the roots of trees, indicating that mycorrhizal fungi form part of their diet. During field observations only two occurrences of them feeding on animals (a grasshopper and a snail) were recorded, compared to 266 mushrooms which were consumed. In a laboratory study, colonies thrived for over thirteen weeks on a diet consisting only of Pleurotus and Agaricus mushrooms. Thus, the natural diet is believed to consist almost entirely of mushrooms. Feeding experiments demonstrated that they are able to live off a diet of honey or insects as well. [2]
Once they locate mushrooms which they consider edible in the wild, they harvest them efficiently, removing over 70% of the mushroom within four hours. In a laboratory study, they almost completely harvested a Pleurotus mushroom that weighed 40 grams (1.4 oz) within three hours. Once they have harvested the mushrooms, they transport pieces of them back to their nest and arrange them into piles 1–4 cm (0.4–1.6 in) in diameter. Over time these piles turn from white to black, losing mass as workers continuously chew and feed on the fungi and in turn feed the ant larvae. The pulp has a distinctive sweet-sour odour which may be due to fermentation occurring. This food processing continues for around a week, depending on the size of the original pile of pieces. If the fungal material is kept away from the ants it quickly spoils, becoming infested by bacteria and smelling unpleasant, but when processed by the ants no spoiling has been observed. The exact mechanisms of the processing of fungi are under investigation. [2]
They are thought to have evolved this feeding habit because few other animals eat mushrooms and therefore there is little competition for the food resource. When mushrooms were placed near nests of E. procera they were by far the main consumer of the mushrooms with other animals barely feeding on them. [2]
The effects that harvesting of mushrooms by E. procera has on the ecosystem is currently unknown. They may have similar effects as ants that harvest seeds of plants, by changing the relative abundance of different fungal species. [2]
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.
Atta is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains at least 17 known species.
Leafcutter ants, a non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genera Atta and Acromyrmex. These species of tropical, fungus-growing ants are all endemic to South and Central America, Mexico, and parts of the southern United States. Leafcutter ants can carry twenty times their body weight and cut and process fresh vegetation to serve as the nutritional substrate for their fungal cultivates.
Myrmica rubra, also known as the common red ant or erroneously the European fire ant, is a species of ant of the genus Myrmica, found all over Europe and is now invasive in some parts of North America and Asia. It is mainly red in colour, with slightly darker pigmentation on the head. These ants live under stones and fallen trees, and in soil. They are aggressive, often attacking rather than running away, and are equipped with a stinger, though they lack the ability to spray formic acid like the genus Formica.
Fungus-growing ants comprise all the known fungus-growing ant species participating in ant–fungus mutualism. They are known for cutting grasses and leaves, carrying them to their colonies' nests, and using them to grow fungus on which they later feed.
Messor is a myrmicine genus of ants with more than 100 species, all of which are harvester ants; the generic name comes from the Roman god of crops and harvest, Messor. The subterranean colonies tend to be found in open fields and near roadsides, openings are directly to the surface.
Weaver ants or green ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae. Weaver ants live in trees and are known for their unique nest building behaviour where workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large consisting of more than a hundred nests spanning numerous trees and containing more than half a million workers. Like many other ant species, weaver ants prey on small insects and supplement their diet with carbohydrate-rich honeydew excreted by small insects (Hemiptera). Weaver ant workers exhibit a clear bimodal size distribution, with almost no overlap between the size of the minor and major workers. The major workers are approximately 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) in length and the minors approximately half the length of the majors. Major workers forage, defend, maintain, and expand the colony whereas minor workers tend to stay within the nests where they care for the brood and 'milk' scale insects in or close to the nests.
Dorylus, also known as driver ants, safari ants, or siafu, is a large genus of army ants found primarily in central and east Africa, although the range also extends to southern Africa and tropical Asia. The term siafu is a loanword from Swahili, and is one of numerous similar words from regional Bantu languages used by indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae, members of this genus form temporary subterranean bivouacs in underground cavities which they excavate and inhabit - either for a few days or up to three months. Also unlike some New World army ants, driver ants are not specialized predators of other species of ant, instead being more generalistic with a diet consisting of a diversity of arthropods. Colonies are enormous compared to other army ants and can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their American counterparts, workers exhibit caste polymorphism with the soldiers having particularly large heads that power their scissor-like mandibles. They are capable of stinging, but very rarely do so, relying instead on their powerful shearing jaws. Driver ant queens are the largest living ants known, with the largest measuring between 40 - 63 millimeters in total body length depending on their physiological condition.
The pharaoh ant is a small (2 mm) yellow or light brown, almost transparent ant notorious for being a major indoor nuisance pest, especially in hospitals. A cryptogenic species, it has now been introduced to virtually every area of the world, including Europe, the Americas, Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is a major pest in the United States, Australia, and Europe.
Harvester ant, also known as harvesting ant, is a common name for any of the species or genera of ants that collect seeds, or mushrooms as in the case of Euprenolepis procera, which are stored in the nest in communal chambers called granaries. They are also referred to as agricultural ants. Seed harvesting by some desert ants is an adaptation to the lack of typical ant resources such as prey or honeydew from hemipterans. Harvester ants increase seed dispersal and protection, and provide nutrients that increase seedling survival of the desert plants. In addition, ants provide soil aeration through the creation of galleries and chambers, mix deep and upper layers of soil, and incorporate organic refuse into the soil.
Atta sexdens is a species of leafcutter ant belonging to the tribe Attini, native to America, from the southern United States (Texas) to northern Argentina. They are absent from Chile. They cut leaves to provide a substrate for the fungus farms which are their principal source of food. Their societies are among the most complex found in social insects. A. sexdens is an ecologically important species, but also an agricultural pest. Other Atta species, such as Atta texana, Atta cephalotes and others, have similar behavior and ecology.
Fungivory or mycophagy is the process of organisms consuming fungi. Many different organisms have been recorded to gain their energy from consuming fungi, including birds, mammals, insects, plants, amoebas, gastropods, nematodes, bacteria and other fungi. Some of these, which only eat fungi, are called fungivores whereas others eat fungi as only part of their diet, being omnivores.
The Macrotermitinae, the fungus-growing termites, constitute a subfamily of the family Termitidae that is only found within the Old World tropics.
Acromyrmex is a genus of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This genus is found in South America and parts of Central America and the Caribbean Islands, and contains 33 known species. Commonly known as "leafcutter ants" they comprise one of the two genera of advanced attines within the tribe Attini, along with Atta.
The green-head ant is a species of ant that is endemic to Australia. It was described by British entomologist Frederick Smith in 1858 as a member of the genus Rhytidoponera in the subfamily Ectatomminae. These ants measure between 5 and 7 mm. The queens and workers look similar, differing only in size, with the males being the smallest. They are well known for their distinctive metallic appearance, which varies from green to purple or even reddish-violet. Among the most widespread of all insects in Australia, green-head ants are found in almost every Australian state, but are absent in Tasmania. They have also been introduced in New Zealand, where several populations have been established.
Cephalotes atratus is a species of arboreal ant in the genus Cephalotes, a genus characterized by its odd shaped head. These ants are known as gliding ants because of their ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they lose their footing.
Dorylus laevigatus is a member of the army ant genus Dorylus, or Old World army ants. More specifically known as "driver ants", the genus Dorylus is abundant throughout Africa and stretches into tropical Asia, where D. laevigatus is primarily found. They are a eusocial colony-forming species, which live primarily underground, rarely venturing to the surface for any reason. D. laevigatus colonies are small for army ants, estimated averages falling between 30,000 and 1,000,000 individuals.
Dinoponera is a strictly South American genus of ant in the subfamily Ponerinae, commonly called tocandiras or giant Amazonian ants. These ants are generally less well known than Paraponera clavata, the bullet ant, yet Dinoponera females may surpass 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in total body length, making them among the largest ants in the world.
Euprenolepis is a Southeast Asian genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae with eight recognized species.
Nylanderia is a large genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution with species inhabiting a wide array of habitats in almost all geographic regions. Nylanderia, currently containing over 110 species, is an ecologically important genus, with some species reported as being invasive. The ants are small to medium in size and range in color from pale yellow to black.