Opportunistic brood theft in the context of colony relocation in an Indian queenless ant.
Bishwarup Paul, Manabi Paul, Sumana Annagiri
Author Information
Bishwarup Paul: Behaviour &Ecology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal 741246, India.
Manabi Paul: Behaviour &Ecology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal 741246, India.
Sumana Annagiri: Behaviour &Ecology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal 741246, India.
Brood is a very valuable part of an ant colony and behaviours increasing its number with minimum investment is expected to be favoured by natural selection. Brood theft has been well documented in ants belonging to the subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae. In this study we report opportunistic brood theft in the context of nest relocation in Diacamma indicum, belonging to the primitively eusocial subfamily Ponerinae. Pupae was the preferred stolen item both in laboratory conditions and in natural habitat and a small percentage of the members of a colony acting as thieves stole about 12% of the brood of the victim colony. Stolen brood were not consumed but became slaves. We propose a new dimension to the risks of relocation in the form of brood theft by conspecific neighbours and speculate that examination of this phenomenon in other primitively eusocial species will help understand the origin of brood theft in ants.
