Chemically armed mercenary ants protect fungus-farming societies

被引:35
作者
Adams, Rachelle M. M. [1 ,2 ]
Liberti, Joanito [1 ]
Illum, Anders A. [1 ]
Jones, Tappey H. [3 ]
Nash, David R. [1 ]
Boomsma, Jacobus J. [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Copenhagen, Dept Biol, Ctr Social Evolut, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
[2] Smithsonian Inst, Dept Entomol, Natl Museum Nat Hist, Washington, DC 20560 USA
[3] Virginia Mil Inst, Dept Chem, Lexington, VA 24450 USA
基金
新加坡国家研究基金会;
关键词
evolutionary transition; symbiosis; Attini; Solenopsidini; SOCIAL PARASITISM; VENOM ALKALOIDS; EVOLUTION; TRACHYMYRMEX; ADAPTATION; CHEMISTRY; ECOLOGY;
D O I
10.1073/pnas.1311654110
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The ants are extraordinary in having evolved many lineages that exploit closely related ant societies as social parasites, but social parasitism by distantly related ants is rare. Here we document the interaction dynamics among a Sericomyrmex fungus-growing ant host, a permanently associated parasitic guest ant of the genus Megalomyrmex, and a raiding agro-predator of the genus Gnamptogenys. We show experimentally that the guest ants protect their host colonies against agro-predator raids using alkaloid venom that is much more potent than the biting defenses of the host ants. Relatively few guest ants are sufficient to kill raiders that invariably exterminate host nests without a cohabiting guest ant colony. We also show that the odor of guest ants discourages raider scouts from recruiting nestmates to host colonies. Our results imply that Sericomyrmex fungus-growers obtain a net benefit from their costly guest ants behaving as a functional soldier caste to meet lethal threats from agro-predator raiders. The fundamentally different life histories of the agro-predators and guest ants appear to facilitate their coexistence in a negative frequency-dependent manner. Because a guest ant colony is committed for life to a single host colony, the guests would harm their own interests by not defending the host that they continue to exploit. This conditional mutualism is analogous to chronic sickle cell anemia enhancing the resistance to malaria and to episodes in human history when mercenary city defenders offered either net benefits or imposed net costs, depending on the level of threat from invading armies.
引用
收藏
页码:15752 / 15757
页数:6
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