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      Role of social and individual experience in interaction of the meadow ant Formica pratensis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with ladybird imagines and hoverfly larvae.

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      Insect science
      Wiley
      Harmonia axyridis, Meligramma triangulifera, ants, aphidophages, defense, enemy recognition

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          Abstract

          The ability to recognize aphidophages is one of the key points in the protection ants provide aphids against their natural enemies. Behavior of honeydew collectors from nature ("field," control) and laboratory reared "naive" ants of Formica pratensis Retzius, which had never met either "mature" workers or aphids and aphidophages, was observed during their pairwise interactions with ladybird imagines and hoverfly larvae. The majority of the "naive" ants perceived ladybirds as an enemy at their first encounter attacking them immediately without any prior antennation. Ants seem to have a certain innate "enemy image" that lets them react very quickly to protect aphids. Hoverfly larvae were rarely attacked by both "field" and "naive" ants (>15%). During tests with ladybirds ants from nature attacked them and also demonstrated the most aggressive reactions (series of bites and "death grip") less frequently than the "naive" ants. The percentage of ants avoiding aphidophages after a contact with their chemical defense (reflex bleeding and glue-like saliva) was significantly higher in the control group. Whereas the "naive" ants did not learn to avoid danger, foragers from nature usually tried to avoid negative experience and used tactics of "short bites." Overall, experience has been proved to be unimportant for displaying key behavioral reactions underlying ant-ladybird interaction. However, accumulation of experience has been assumed to play an important role in the formation of behavioral strategy that allows honeydew collectors to drive aphidophages away with lower energy costs and avoid or minimize negative consequences of aphidophages' chemical defense.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Insect Sci
          Insect science
          Wiley
          1744-7917
          1672-9609
          Mar 2015
          : 22
          : 3
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Frunze str., 11, Novosibirsk, 630091, Russia.
          Article
          10.1111/1744-7917.12127
          24729435
          6d1ce817-2ac3-44d0-9abf-fcbb53365c06
          © 2014 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
          History

          enemy recognition,defense,aphidophages,ants,Harmonia axyridis,Meligramma triangulifera

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