ASIAN
MYRMECOLOGY

DOI: 10.20362/am.009002
Asian Myrmecology 9: e009002 (1-8)
article first published online 09/March/2017

Nesting site selection of Temnothorax congruus from Japanese broad-leave forests: a trade-off between nest site quality and distance from sympatric Crematogaster teranishii colonies

KAZUTAKA SYOJI* & KATSUYUKI EGUCHI

Abstract:

Intra- and interspecific competition for resources such as food and nesting sites, as well as other biotic and abiotic factors, affect colony distribution of ant species. Through a series of laboratory experiments using Temnothorax congruus and its putative sympatric competitor Crematogaster teranishii we investigated whether nesting site selection by T. congruus is affected by the presence of C. teranishii. In the absence of C. teranishii, T. congruus colonies preferred plastic tubes with narrower entrances and those with fewer entrances as their nesting site. In the presence of C. teranishii, T. congruus colonies clearly avoided tubes near the C. teranishii nests as their nesting site, even if the tubes near C. teranishii nests were higher in quality than those far from C. teranishii nests. The mortality rate of T. congruus adults was higher in the presence of C. teranishii adults than in the absence of them.

Keywords:

Formicidae; competition; emigration; interspecific aggression; nest choice; trade-off

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Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan

*Corresponding author: syoji-kazutaka@ed.tmu.ac.jp