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We investigated the effect of injections of four biogenic amines (serotonin, dopamine, octopamine and tyramine) on behavior patterns displayed by workers of the red wood ant Formica polyctena during dyadic confrontations with four types of opponents: a nestmate, an alien conspecific, an allospecific ant (Formica fusca), and a potential prey, a nymph of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus). Significant effects of biogenic amine administration were observed almost exclusively in the case of confrontations with allospecific opponents. Serotonin treatment exerted stimulatory effects on behavior patterns involving physical aggression (biting accompanied by gaster flexing, dragging and formic acid spraying), but these effects were relatively weak and/or documented by indirect evidence. Dopamine administration exerted a stimulatory effect on open-mandible threats directed by F. polyctena to F. fusca and to cricket nymphs, and on biting behavior directed to cricket nymphs. Surprisingly, octopamine treatment did not exert significant effects on aggressive behavior of the tested ants. Tyramine administration exerted a suppressing effect on threatening behavior directed to F. fusca, but led to shortening of the latencies to the first open-mandible threat during the tests with cricket nymphs. Biogenic amine administration also influenced non-aggressive behavior of the tested ants. Our findings confirmed the role of serotonin and dopamine in the mediation of ant aggressive behavior and documented for the first time significant effects of tyramine treatment on ant aggressive behavior. We also demonstrated that not only specific patterns of ant aggressive behavior, but also behavioral effects of biogenic amine treatments are as a rule strongly context-dependent.
The separation of the wood ant sibling species Formica rufa and F. polyctera has been questioned recently on partly morphological grounds. We show difference in their attacks on ten alien, mainly sympatric, ant species. F. rufa significantly more often inflicted pure proximal in proportion to distal lesions than F. polyctena. They did not significantly differ in total number, laterality, or anterior/posterior position of inflicted lesions and did not injure some victim species significantly more proximally than others. Serviformica and Raptiformica species inflicted mainly distal lesions in contrast to the mainly proximally attacking Coptoformica and F. truncorum of the wood ant subgenus (Formica s.s.). Formica exsecta amputated significantly more heads relative to other body parts than eight other Formica species when all fought individually with ten ant species. F. exsecta decapitated Formica species significantly more often than non -Formica species (enemy specification) although this discrimination was not significantly stronger than in the eight other amputating Formica species (enemy specification "in the strict sense" was not demonstrated). Similar interspecific decapitations reported from natural F. exsecta colonies support the relevancy of one-on-one combats in the laboratory to the natural situation. Phylogenetic position and degree of polygyny of Formica species were not clearly correlated with interspecific proximal-attack propensity.
In June 1989, in the Gorce Mts (southern Poland) a nest of a highly polygynous Formica polyctena Foerst. colony was excavated and all the queens found there (128) were removed. An alien conspecific colony was experimentally established nearby, containing about 50 fecund queens. The orphaned workers invaded the queenright colony and abducted a lot of queens to their own nest.
Two cases of the existence of permanently mixed colonies of Formica polyctena FOERST. + F. rufa L. were discovered and blometrically proved. They came into being thanks to secondary allometrosis. The data are from the Gorce Mts. (the Western Carpathians), collected there from 1987 to 1990.
There are reported cases of spontaneous changes in species affiliation of colonies within the Formica rufa group (F. rufa L.→ F. polyctena FOERST.) resulting from the adoption of foreign queens by orphaned workers. Thus it is shown that mixed colonies of these species can function temporarily, and this widens the knowledge about the ways of colony founding by their queens. The data were collected in the Gorce Mts. (the Western Carpathians) from 1985 to 1990.
We describe the composition of two colonies of wood ants (FM-1 and FM-2) from southern Finland, identified on the basis of morphological investigations of workers (for FM-1, also of alate gynes and males) as mixed colonies comprising individuals with phenotypes typical of Formica aquilonia Yarr., F. polyctena Först, and F. rufa L. The prevailing species (phenotypes) were F. polyctena in FM-1, and F. rufa in FM-2. Colony FM-1 was observed every year in the period 1996-2006, almost from the moment it was formed. A first tentative investigation in 1999 revealed that it was already a mixed one and was probably also polygynous. Systematic follow-up investigations from 2002 to 2006 demonstrated relative stability of the proportions of individual species (phenotypes). A possible origin of this permanently mixed colony is postulated and discussed.
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