Coevolution between slave-making ants and their hosts: host specificity and geographical variation

We explored the impact of a slave‐making ant, Protomognathus americanus, on two of its hosts, Leptothorax longispinosus and L. ambiguus. We showed that, on average, slave‐maker colonies conduct raids on 2.7 L. longispinosus and 1.4 L. ambiguus nests in a single year. The more common host, L. longisp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular ecology 2003-10, Vol.12 (10), p.2809-2816
Main Authors: Blatrix, R., Herbers, J. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression - physiology
Animals
Ants - genetics
Ants - physiology
Biological Evolution
coevolution
Dominance-Subordination
Formicidae
Gene Frequency
Geography
Leptothorax
Microsatellite Repeats - genetics
microsatellites
Protomognathus
social parasitism
Symbiosis
Vermont
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Summary:We explored the impact of a slave‐making ant, Protomognathus americanus, on two of its hosts, Leptothorax longispinosus and L. ambiguus. We showed that, on average, slave‐maker colonies conduct raids on 2.7 L. longispinosus and 1.4 L. ambiguus nests in a single year. The more common host, L. longispinosus, survives raiding and colony‐founding events in a third of the cases, but the less common host rarely survives attacks from the slave‐makers. We compare our results, collected in Vermont, to a study conducted in New York where the slave‐maker pressure is much stronger. Our results suggest that in Vermont the slave‐maker has a sparing strategy when raiding L. longispinosus, but not when raiding L. ambiguus. Thus coevolution between slave‐making ants and their hosts shows host specificity and geographical variation.
ISSN:0962-1083
1365-294X
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-294X.2003.01947.x