Predators of highly defensive prey likely develop cost-reducing
adaptations. The ant Megaponera analis is a specialized termite
predator, solely raiding termites of the subfamily
Macrotermitinae (in this study, mostly colonies of
Pseudocanthotermes sp.) at their foraging sites. The evolutionary
arms race between termites and ants led to various defensive
mechanisms in termites (for example, a caste specialized in
fighting predators). Because M. analis incurs high
injury/mortality risks when preying on termites, some
risk-mitigating adaptations seem likely to have evolved. We show
that a unique rescue behavior in M. analis, consisting of injured
nestmates being carried back to the nest, reduces combat
mortality. After a fight, injured ants are carried back by their
nestmates; these ants have usually lost an extremity or have
termites clinging to them and are able to recover within the
nest. Injured ants that are forced experimentally to return
without help, die in 32\% of the cases. Behavioral experiments
show that two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl
trisulfide, present in the mandibular gland reservoirs, trigger
the rescue behavior. A model accounting for this rescue behavior
identifies the drivers favoring its evolution and estimates that
rescuing enables maintenance of a 28.7\% larger colony size. Our
results are the first to explore experimentally the adaptive
value of this form of rescue behavior focused on injured
nestmates in social insects and help us to identify evolutionary
drivers responsible for this type of behavior to evolve in
animals.
%0 Journal Article
%1 Frank2017-ei
%A Frank, Erik Thomas
%A Schmitt, Thomas
%A Hovestadt, Thomas
%A Mitesser, Oliver
%A Stiegler, Jonas
%A Linsenmair, Karl Eduard
%D 2017
%J Sci Adv
%K pc6 sfb1047
%N 4
%P e1602187
%T Saving the injured: Rescue behavior in the termite-hunting ant
Megaponera analis
%V 3
%X Predators of highly defensive prey likely develop cost-reducing
adaptations. The ant Megaponera analis is a specialized termite
predator, solely raiding termites of the subfamily
Macrotermitinae (in this study, mostly colonies of
Pseudocanthotermes sp.) at their foraging sites. The evolutionary
arms race between termites and ants led to various defensive
mechanisms in termites (for example, a caste specialized in
fighting predators). Because M. analis incurs high
injury/mortality risks when preying on termites, some
risk-mitigating adaptations seem likely to have evolved. We show
that a unique rescue behavior in M. analis, consisting of injured
nestmates being carried back to the nest, reduces combat
mortality. After a fight, injured ants are carried back by their
nestmates; these ants have usually lost an extremity or have
termites clinging to them and are able to recover within the
nest. Injured ants that are forced experimentally to return
without help, die in 32\% of the cases. Behavioral experiments
show that two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl
trisulfide, present in the mandibular gland reservoirs, trigger
the rescue behavior. A model accounting for this rescue behavior
identifies the drivers favoring its evolution and estimates that
rescuing enables maintenance of a 28.7\% larger colony size. Our
results are the first to explore experimentally the adaptive
value of this form of rescue behavior focused on injured
nestmates in social insects and help us to identify evolutionary
drivers responsible for this type of behavior to evolve in
animals.
@article{Frank2017-ei,
abstract = {Predators of highly defensive prey likely develop cost-reducing
adaptations. The ant Megaponera analis is a specialized termite
predator, solely raiding termites of the subfamily
Macrotermitinae (in this study, mostly colonies of
Pseudocanthotermes sp.) at their foraging sites. The evolutionary
arms race between termites and ants led to various defensive
mechanisms in termites (for example, a caste specialized in
fighting predators). Because M. analis incurs high
injury/mortality risks when preying on termites, some
risk-mitigating adaptations seem likely to have evolved. We show
that a unique rescue behavior in M. analis, consisting of injured
nestmates being carried back to the nest, reduces combat
mortality. After a fight, injured ants are carried back by their
nestmates; these ants have usually lost an extremity or have
termites clinging to them and are able to recover within the
nest. Injured ants that are forced experimentally to return
without help, die in 32\% of the cases. Behavioral experiments
show that two compounds, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl
trisulfide, present in the mandibular gland reservoirs, trigger
the rescue behavior. A model accounting for this rescue behavior
identifies the drivers favoring its evolution and estimates that
rescuing enables maintenance of a 28.7\% larger colony size. Our
results are the first to explore experimentally the adaptive
value of this form of rescue behavior focused on injured
nestmates in social insects and help us to identify evolutionary
drivers responsible for this type of behavior to evolve in
animals.},
added-at = {2022-09-28T14:09:16.000+0200},
author = {Frank, Erik Thomas and Schmitt, Thomas and Hovestadt, Thomas and Mitesser, Oliver and Stiegler, Jonas and Linsenmair, Karl Eduard},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a7db81aaca95a78a1baf7c943920b3e8/neurobiowue},
interhash = {bed617e8e8045622a4918cfc0ec7b09d},
intrahash = {a7db81aaca95a78a1baf7c943920b3e8},
journal = {Sci Adv},
keywords = {pc6 sfb1047},
number = 4,
pages = {e1602187},
timestamp = {2022-09-28T14:09:16.000+0200},
title = {Saving the injured: Rescue behavior in the termite-hunting ant
Megaponera analis},
volume = 3,
year = 2017
}