Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m8s7h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T21:00:19.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

TRAIL-LAYING BEHAVIOUR OF THE CARPENTER ANT, CAMPONOTUS PENNSYLVANICUS (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

E. B. Hartwick ,
W. G. Friend  and
C. E. Atwood
E. B. Hartwick
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
W. G. Friend
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
C. E. Atwood
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Camponotus pennsylvanicus (De Geer) workers concentrate their foraging efforts in the vicinity of a new food source. Experiments with artificial “trees” confirm that these ants lay chemical trails when they locate food and under other circumstances. Marks left by ants travelling over smoked paper indicate that the trail consists of a series of streaks, sometimes variable in length, and that ants following trails make regular alternate deviations. Trails are laid extensively in the immediate vicinity of food. A trail is not reinforced by all gorged workers passing over it.

The trails activate other workers and provide a means of orientation but are clearly non-directional. A bioassay with various organs indicated that the hind gut is the source of the trail substance.

When a strong direct light is available, attention to trails dwindles and ants eventually use light orientation to reach the food, often following more direct routes at that time. Physical contact between workers may activate them but provides no directional information and may lead to temporary disorientation.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 109 , Issue 1 , January 1977 , pp. 129 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bethe, A. 1898. Durfen wir den Ameisen und Bienen psychische Qualitaten zuschreiben. Arch. gesamt. Physiol. 70: 15–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, M. S. and Portecarrero, C. A.. 1964. Chemical releasers of social behaviour. IV. The hind-gut as the source of the odour trail pheromone in the neotropical army ant genus Eciton. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 57: 793–794.Google Scholar
Blum, M. S. and Wilson, E. O.. 1964. The anatomical source of trail substances in formicine ants. Psyche, Camb. 71: 28–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fielde, A. M. 1901. Further study of an ant. Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. 53: 521–544.Google Scholar
Goetsch, W. 1934. Untersuchungen uber die Zusammenarbeit im Amerisenstaat. Z. Morph. Oekol. Tiere 28: 319–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hingston, R. W. G. 1928. Problems of instinct and intelligence. Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Holldobler, B. 1971. Recruitment behaviour in Camponotus socius. Z. vergl. Physiol. 75: 123–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmus, H. 1966. Regulation and control in living systems. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Marak, G. E. and Wolken, J. J.. 1965. Colour vision. Nature, Lond. 205: 1328–1329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, H. 1964. Zur Nahorientierung der Biene im Duftfeld. Zugleich ein Nachweis fur die Osmotropotaxes bei Insekten. Z. vergl. Physiol. 48: 481–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pricer, J. L. 1908. The life history of the carpenter ant. Biol. Bull. 14: 177–218.Google Scholar
Schneirla, T. C. 1944. A unique case of circular milling in ants. Am. Mus. Novit. 1253. 26 pp.Google Scholar
Sudd, J. H. 1967. An introduction to the behaviour of ants. Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Szelp, R. and Jacobi, T.. 1967. The mechanism of recruitment to mass foraging colonies of Monomorium venustum Smith, M. subopacum spp. phoenicium Em., Tapinoma israelis For. and T. simothi v. phoenicium Em. Insectes soc. 14: 25–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, E. O. 1959. Source and possible nature of the odour trail of fire ants. Science 129 (3349): 643–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, E. O. 1971. The insect societies. Harvard Press, Cambridge, Mass. pp. 248–258.Google Scholar