Predatory behaviour in the ponerine ant, Centromyrmex bequaerti:: a case of termitolesty

Centromyrmex bequaerti is an African ponerine ant who nests in the termitaries of diverse Termitinae and Macrotermitinae and preys almost exclusively on their hosts. Such predatory specificity corresponds to a kind of familiarisation with the host species, because workers are able to capture other termites when experimentally accustomed. Hunting workers showed different capture behaviours depending on whether they were faced with a single termite worker or soldier, or a group of termites, and were particularly well-adapted to eliminate guarding termite soldiers. The strategy for capturing grouped termites was characterised by the recruitment of nestmates and the piling up of the paralysed prey before retrieving them to the nest. Using a group hunting strategy is considered another evolved feature for this termitolestic ant. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.