Evaluation of mechanisms in defensive behaviors using by dead ant bodies

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26650162
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Gifu University
• Principal Investigator: Tsuchida Koji 岐阜大学, 応用生物科学部, 教授 (00252122)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ゾンビディフェンス / ハダカアリ / 防衛 / 死骸

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the ant Cardiocondyla kagutsuchi, dead ant piles around its nest entrance are frequently observed in the field. We hypothesize this behavior as defensive one (Zombie defense) utilizing well known repellent effect in dead ant bodies, and conducted filed and experimental studies. The results were as follows; (1) In the fields, the dead ant piles were constructed with the dead bodies of the ant Tetramorium tsushimae, which in general the most abundant species around the environment where the colonies of C. kagutsuchi were present, (2) Zombie defense behavior was elicited by the contact with live individuals of T. tsushimae, and the duration of Zombie defense became longer, as the number of offensive number of the ant T. tsushimae. The utilized dead bodies were usually fresh killed ones of T. tsushimae.

Free Research Field

昆虫生態学