Organic linings in nests of the fire ants Solenopsis electra Forel and Solenopsis nr. macdonaghi Santschi from Argentina
- PDF / 709,459 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 64 Downloads / 169 Views
Insectes Sociaux
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Organic linings in nests of the fire ants Solenopsis electra Forel and Solenopsis nr. macdonaghi Santschi from Argentina J. F. Genise • F. Cuezzo • M. G. Gonza´lez M. Krause
•
Received: 11 July 2012 / Revised: 5 November 2012 / Accepted: 9 November 2012 / Published online: 24 November 2012 Ó International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) 2012
Abstract Although fire ants have been extensively studied, not much has been published about the structure and building material of their nests and even less on the lining of chamber walls. Nests built in unconsolidated sandy soils of Solenopsis electra and Solenopsis nr. macdonaghi, studied in La Pampa and Chubut (Argentina), respectively, show organic linings, which are reported herein for the first time. It is hypothesized that these organic linings may be of fecal origin, since there is no organic rich horizon in those soils. Apart from its significance as regards ant architecture and nest function, the presence of organic linings in ant nests is important for interpreting fossil nests, which have been often assigned to termites based on the presence of organic linings. Keywords Fire ants Nests Sandy soils Organic linings Fossil nests
Introduction Not much is known on the use of organic matter as building and lining material by ants nesting in soils, which, in J. F. Genise (&) M. G. Gonza´lez CONICET, Divisio´n Icnologı´a, Museo Argentino de Ciencias ´ ngel Gallardo 470, Naturales ‘‘Bernardino Rivadavia’’, Av. A 1405 Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: [email protected]
contrast, is extensively used by the other main group of eusocial soil nesting insects: the termites (Noirot, 1970; Grasse´, 1984; Genise, 1997; Cosarinsky, 2006). On the other hand, inorganic linings have been recorded in soil nests of different ants (Bruch, 1916; De´jean and Lachaud, 1994; Wang et al., 1995; Green et al., 1999; Halfen and Hasiotis, 2010; Cosarinsky and Roces, 2011). Despite being one of the most recognized ants, not much has been published on fire ant nests (Tschinkel, 2003, 2006), and even less on their wall linings. Green et al. (1999) found no organic linings in nests of Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri Forel in the USA, but an inorganic one produced by illuviation. Cosarinsky (2006) found no organic lining in nests of species of Solenopsis sp. from Entre Rı´os (Argentina). Similarly, one of us (FC) checked several nests of Solenopsis saevissima (Smith) from Tucuma´n (Argentina) for organic linings with negative results. However, we will show herein that at least some species of this genus, namely Solenopsis electra Forel and Solenopsis near macdonaghi Santschi, nesting in single grained sandy soils from La Pampa and Chubut (Argentina), respectively, line the walls with organic matter, probably of fecal origin. Both species belong to the ‘‘fire ant’’ group or ‘‘Solenopsis saevissima species group’’ (Pitts et al., 2005), which includes only mound-building species, in contrast to the ‘‘thief ants’’ group of Solenopsis.
Data Loading...
