The uprising of ants

It turns out that ants, "falling into slavery" to stronger species, are not as helpless as it might seem at first glance. The results of the studies received at the University of Minsk Johann Gutenberg (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany) indicate that the enslaved ants carry out “shares of civil disobedience”, neglecting their direct duties, up to the murder of the descendants of their tyrants. Thus, they warn the possibility of enslaving the next generation of their own ants.

This discovery was made by the Mirmekologist of the Zuzann Foitzik back in 2009. Her observations of the behavior of ants continued. What she discovered turned out to be not an isolated case and was not limited to only a look. The foicik with colleagues watched three different populations of ants in the United States, in the states of West Virginia, New York and Ohio, where there were cases of “uprisings”. According to the latest data, this is a very common way to resist enslaved individuals of ants.

Social parasitism, in which one type of ants exists at the expense of another, is known for a long time. Slaves as a type of social parasitism in anterior anti-workers are inevitable due to the anatomical characteristics of their body. For example, in the absence of teeth in the rotary organs, ants are not able to perform any work in the nest, even eat on their own.

In the studies of the foikik, the old, from the point of view of evolution, was involved in the social parasite - Protomognathus americanus , which is completely dependent on other types of ants. Slaves should take care of the brood in the parasite nests, bring food to their owners, feed them and even protect the nest. The North American P. Americanus make regular raids on Temnothorax Longispinosus nests. Parasitic ants kill adults in them, and as prey they bring the puppeters of the hosts in order to subsequently educate slaves from them, performing all the dirty work. Returning to their nests, they force the captured ants to feed and serve their

larvae, thereby trying to increase the survival of its population, which is called nesting parasitism. Of course, the similarity with slavery in human society is purely external. The slaves of ants perform the same works in the slave owner’s nest that they would perform in their native nest, only they grow the brood not their own, but of someone else's appearance. According to the observations of the foikik, enslaved ants suffer this until a certain point, but then take retaliatory measures.

“Probably, at first, slaves cannot determine that the larvae belong to a different type,” the foik explains. As a result, under the supervision of the newly -minted “nannies” at the stage, the larva survives 95% of the brood, but everything changes dramatically when the larvae begin to muse. The social organization of ants is based on a perfect communication system through chemical transmitters - pheromones. The key role in the recognition of cohabitants in the anthill is played by the hydrocarbons of the cuticle - the external cover of insects. Puppeters emit signal substances that ants t . Longispinosus recognize as not related to themselves. Following this, enslaved ants ignore or immediately kill babies, tearing them to pieces. Thanks to olfactory receptors, the rebellious ants determine female individuals and it is over them that the reprisal is made. A large number of children are in this way, only a small number survive. According to the foicik, only 27% of the dolls survived in the parasite nests in Western Virginia, and only 49% in New York colonies. In Ohio, a little more survived - 58% of the dolls.

Obviously, ants, conducting “subversive actions” into the rear of the enemy, in such a peculiar way instinctively try to save their free -lived counterparts, protecting them from the raids of new generations of parasitic ants. And, in fact, the colonies of the workers-owners affected by the acts of sabotage grew more slowly, their number due to a smaller number of raids did not increase.

If we are guided by the theory of the geographical mosaic of the coevolutionary process, significant differences in the level of mortality in colonies located in various regions are allowed. According to this theory, the number of populations varies, because the individuals are subjected to various selection pressure and are characterized by various mechanisms of attack and protection generated through mutations, which means that evolution in different geographical areas can go in different directions. Potential slaves in the state of New York are more aggressive and often turn off the attempts of raids, in Western Virginia, strategic struggle and the destruction of women's dolls in the colony of slave owners are more beneficial for Western Virginia, since, according to genetic analysis, ants from neighboring colonies are their closest relatives.

The discovery in this discovery seems especially interesting that the ants surviving the enslavement are not the only individuals who inherit the “destroying dolls of the enemy” of the genes. This sign is manifested and fixed in offspring among free-living ants. Here we can talk, if not about learned behavior, then about a genetic predisposition to such behavior.

Tatiana Borisova

www.uni-mainz.de/presse/15733_eng_html.php

http://io9.com/5947040/nslaved-Worker-ants-back-through-acts-OF-Sabotage

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10682-012-9584-0?no-expess=true

Source :
Tobias Pamminger, Annette Leingärtner, Alexandra Achenbach, ISabelle Kleeberg, Pleuni S. Pennings, Susanne Foitzik. Geographic Distribution of the Antiparasite Trait "Slave Rebellion", Evolutionary Ecology , June 2012 DOI: 10.1007/S10682-012-9584-0