A mimetic nesting association between a timid social wasp and an aggressive arboreal ant
2018
Corbara, Bruno | Servigne, Pablo | Dejean, Alain | Carpenter, James | Orivel, Jérôme | Laboratoire Microorganismes : Génome et Environnement (LMGE) ; Université Blaise Pascal - Clermont-Ferrand 2 (UBP)-Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I (UdA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Ecologie des forêts de Guyane (ECOFOG) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG)-AgroParisTech-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Department of Physics and Astronomy [Leicester] ; University of Leicester | Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB) ; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse (Comue de Toulouse)-Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse (Comue de Toulouse)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Investissement d'Avenir grant : ANR-10-LABX-25-01 | ANR-10-LABX-0025,CEBA,CEnter of the study of Biodiversity in Amazonia(2010)
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. In French Guiana, the arboreal nests of the swarm-founding social wasp Protopolybia emortualis (Polistinae) are generally found near those of the arboreal dolichoderine ant Dolichoderus bidens. These wasp nests are typically protected by an envelope, which in turn is covered by an additional carton 'shelter' with structure resembling the D. bidens nests. A few wasps constantly guard their nest to keep D. bidens workers from approaching. When alarmed by a strong disturbance, the ants invade the host tree foliage whereas the wasps retreat into their nest. Notably, there is no chemical convergence in the cuticular profiles of the wasps and ants sharing a tree. The aggressiveness of D. bidens likely protects the wasps from army ant raids, but the ants do not benefit from the presence of the wasps; therefore, this relationship corresponds to a kind of commensalism. (C) 2018 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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