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Driver Ants Invading a Termite Nest: Why Do the Most Catholic Predators of All Seldom Take This Abundant Prey?
Author(s) -
Schöning Caspar,
Moffett Mark W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2007.00296.x
Subject(s) - predation , nest (protein structural motif) , biology , ecology , habitat , forage , subgenus , genus , biochemistry
Driver ants ( i.e. , epigaeic species in the army ant genus Dorylus , subgenus Anomma ) are among the most extreme polyphagous predators, but termites appear to be conspicuously absent from their prey spectrum and attacks by driver ants on termite nests have not yet been described. Here, we report a Dorylus ( Anomma ) rubellus attack on a colony of the fungus‐growing termite Macrotermes subhyalinus that was observed during the dry season in a savannah habitat in Nigeria's Gashaka National Park. It was estimated that several hundred thousand termites (probably more than 2.4 kg dry mass) were retrieved. The apparent rarity of driver ant predation on Macrotermes nests may be explained by different habitat requirements, by the fact that these ants mostly forage aboveground, by efficient termite defense behavior and nest architecture that make entry into the nest difficult, and finally by driver ant worker morphology, which differs remarkably from that of subterranean Dorylus species that regularly invade and destroy termite colonies.