Slave Marking by the Slave-Making Ant Harpagoxenus Americanus (Emery) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

Leptothorax longispinosus ant workers were reared from pupae as slaves in nests of the slave-making ant Harpagoxenus americanus. Half the slaves lived in nests containing slavemaker adults until just prior to testing, while the other half lived in slavemaker nests from which the adult slavemakers had been removed one week before testing. The acceptability of these workers in L. longispinosus nests was tested by introducing them either to a nest of their unenslaved parental colony or to a nest of another unenslaved L. longispinosus colony. Slaves which had been living with slavemakers just prior to testing were attacked more than unenslaved workers and more than slaves which had been living in nests from which the slavemakers had been removed. Slaves which had been living without slavemakers were attacked no more than unenslaved workers. These findings suggest that H. americanus chemically marks its slaves, that the mark prevents their return to their parental colonies, and that the mark dissipates with time. © 1990, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.