Oecophylla Longinoda, an Ant Predator of Anomma Driver Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Ants o the subgenus Anomma, one ot 6 subgenera composing the genus Dorylus, are commonly reerred to as "driver ants." The driver ant receives its name appa.rently because it "drives everything before it capable o muscular movement, so ormidable is it rom its numbers and bite ." (Savage, 847). O the Dorylus subgenera, Anomma is most conspicuous. Its species are aggressive, primarily epigaeic oragers (i.e. surface adapted as opposed to subterranean) with colo.nies consisting ot up to 22 million individuals (Raignier and van Boven, 955). Although the erocity ot the Anomma driver ants has been fictionalized and tales o their behavior are incorporated into Arican olklo.re, their pugnacity has been repeatedly documented (Loveridge, 922 Raignier and van Boven, 9.55 Savage, 847, 849; Wheeler 9o, 922). The driver ants have also been described as clearly dominant animals (Weber, 943). Without a doubt, they appea.r as efficient predato,rs, having evolved a system o group predation o significant adaptive advantage in tropical environments. However, these carnivores are themselves no.t without predators. Bequaert (922) reports Anomma species rom the stomachs ot 4 species o.x Arican toa.ds (genus Bufo) and 3 species, ot Arican rogs (in the genera Rana, Kassina, Hemisus). He also reports that driver ants are commonly eaten by Arican skinks o the genus Mabuya and by pangolins (scaly anteaters) o the genus Manis. Chapin (I932) indicates that driver ants are eaten by several species ox Arican birds, including the Guinea owl, Phasidus niger Cassin. My own observations in Ghana place the domestic chicken among Anomma predators, or driver ants requently orage in village reuse heaps where chickens are also regular visitors. These chickens walk along the columns and clusters o. worker ants, picking up and swallowing individual workers while carefully avoiding any other contact with the ants. Insects and other arthropods have not been observed as important Anomma predators. While flies o the genera