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Diel and seasonal patterns of foraging activity in the arboreal ant Crematogaster matsumurai Forel
Author(s) -
HARADA Yutaka
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
entomological science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1479-8298
pISSN - 1343-8786
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8298.2005.00115.x
Subject(s) - arboreal locomotion , foraging , biology , nest (protein structural motif) , ecology , seasonality , habitat , biochemistry
The foraging habits of the arboreal ant Crematogaster matsumurai Forel were studied in natural and captive colonies in southern Kyushu, Japan. The nests of C . matsumurai are made mainly in the trunks of living trees. In the natural environment, the species mainly lives in decayed parts of relatively tall trees, such as Acer palmatum , Prunus jamasakura and Prunus yedoensis . Observation over a 24 h period showed that C . matsumurai foraged actively at night as well as during the day. The foraging of the workers out of the nest was seen from early spring to late autumn, both on the tree and on the ground. As protein sources, aphids were mainly collected by foragers from the tree, while small parts of dead insects or other arthropods were mainly collected from the ground surface. The foraging activity of workers is assumed to be influenced by the quantity and quality of food rather than seasonality.