The plant ant Tetraponera aethiops (Pseudomyrmecinae) protects its host myrmecophyte Barteria fistulosa (Passifloraceae) through aggressiveness and predation

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

Volumn 93, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 63-69

  Dejean, Alain ^a,b   Djiéto Lordon, Champlain ^c   Orivel, Jérôme ^b  

^a CNRS   (France)

^b UNIVERSITÉ PAUL SABATIER   (France)

^c UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDÉ I   (Cameroon)

Author keywords

Ants; Plant protection; Territorial aggressiveness

Indexed keywords

AGGRESSION; ANT; DICOTYLEDON; HOST PLANT; INSECT; PLANT-INSECT INTERACTION; PREDATION;

BARTERIA FISTULOSA; CHRYSOMELIDAE; COLEOPTERA; FORMICIDAE; HEXAPODA; ORTHOPTERA; PASSIFLORA EDULIS; PASSIFLORACEAE; PSEUDOMYRMECINAE; TETRAPONERA AETHIOPS; TETTIGONIIDAE;

EID: 37249087282     PISSN: 00244066     EISSN: 10958312     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00927.x     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. Bernays EA, Chapman RF. 2000. Plant secondary compounds and grasshoppers: beyond plant defenses. Journal of Chemical Ecology 26: 1773 1794.
2. Breteler FJ. 1999. Barteria Hook. F. (Passifloraceae) revised. Adansonia 21: 307 318.
3. Coley PD, Kursar TA. 1996. Anti-herbivore defenses of young tropical leaves: physiological constraints and ecological trade-offs. In: Smith AP, Mulkey SS, Chazdon RL, eds. Tropical forest plant ecophysiology. London: Chapman & Hall, 305 336.
4. Davidson DW, Cook SC, Snelling RR, Chua TH. 2003. Explaining the abundance of ants in lowland tropical rainforest canopies. Science 300: 969 972.
5. Davidson DW, Longino JT, Snelling RR. 1988. Pruning of host plant neighbors by ants: an experimental approach. Ecology 69: 801 808.
6. Dejean A. 1990. Circadian rhythm of Oecophylla longinoda in relation with territoriality and predatory behaviour. Physiological Entomology 15: 393 403.
7. Dejean A, Delabie JHC, Cerdan P, Gibernau M, Corbara B. 2006. Are myrmecophytes always better protected against herbivores than other plants? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 89: 91 98.
8. Dejean A, Solano PJ, Ayroles J, Corbara B, Orivel J. 2005. Arboreal ants build a trap to ambush and capture prey. Nature 434: 973.
9. Delabie JHC. 2001. Trophobiosis between Formicidae and Hemiptera (Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha): an overview. Neotropical Entomology 30: 501 516.
10. Djiéto-Lordon C, Dejean A. 1999. Innate attraction supplants experience during host plant selection in an obligate plant-ant. Behavioural Processes 46: 181 187.
11. Djiéto-Lordon C, Dejean A, Gibernau M, Hossaert-McKey M, McKey D. 2004. Symbiotic mutualism with a community of opportunistic ants: protection, competition, and patterns of tree occupancy by ants associated with the myrmecophyte Barteria nigritana (Passifloraceae). Acta Oecologica 36: 109 116.
12. Floren A, Biun A, Linsenmair KE. 2002. Arboreal ants as key predators in tropical lowland rainforest trees. Oecologia 131: 137 144.
13. Gaume L, McKey D. 1998. Protection against herbivores of the myrmecophyte Leonardoxa africana (Baill.) Aubrèv. T3 by its principal ant inhabitant Aphomomyrmex afer Emery. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 321: 593 601.
14. Heil M, Fiala B, Kaiser W, Linsenmair KE. 1998. Chemical contents of Macaranga food bodies: adaptations to their role in ant attraction and nutrition. Functional Ecology 12: 117 122.
15. Heil M, McKey D. 2003. Protective ant-plant interactions as model systems in ecological and evolutionary research. Annual Review of Ecology, Systematics and Evolution 34: 425 553.
16. Hölldobler B, Wilson EO. 1990. The ants. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
17. Janzen DH. 1966. Coevolution of mutualism between ants and acacias in Central America. Evolution 20: 249 275.
18. Janzen DH. 1972. Protection of Barteria (Passifloraceae) by Pachysima ants (Pseudomyrmecinae) in a Nigerian rain forest. Ecology 53: 885 892.
19. McKey D. 1974. Ants-Plants: selective eating of an unoccupied Barteria by a colobus monkey. Biotropica 6: 269 270.
20. Morais HC. 1994. Coordinated group ambush: a new predatory in Azteca ants (Dolichoderinae). Insectes Sociaux 41: 339 342.
21. Moreau CS, Bell CD, Vila R, Archibald SB, Pierce NE. 2006. Phylogeny of the Ants: diversification in the Age of Angiosperms. Science 312: 101 104.
22. Nishida R. 2002. Sequestration of defensive substances from plants by Lepidoptera. Annual Review of Entomology 47: 57 92.
23. Richard F-J, Fabre A, Dejean A. 2001. Predatory behaviour in dominant arboreal ant species: the case of Crematogaster sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 14: 271 282.
24. Sagers CL, Ginger SM, Evans RD. 2000. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes trace nutrient exchange in an ant-plant mutualism. Oecologia 123: 582 586.
25. Solano PJ, Dejean A. 2004. Ant-fed plants: comparison between three geophytic myrmecophytes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 83: 433 439.
26. Van Borm S, Bushinger A, Boosma JJ, Billen J. 2002. Tetraponera ants have gut symbionts related to nitrogen-fixing root-nodule bacteria. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 268: 2023 2027.
27. Ward PS. 1991. Phylogenetic analysis of Pseudomyrmecinae ants associated with domatia-bearing plants. In: Huxley CR, Cutler DF, eds. Ant-plant interactions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 335 353.
28. Yumoto T, Maruhashi T. 1999. Pruning behavior and intercolony competition of Tetraponera (Pachysima) aethiops (Pseudomyrmecinae, Hymenoptera) in Barteria fistulosa in a tropical forest, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ecological Research 14: 393 404.