Orientation in leaf-cutting ants (Formicidae: Attini)

The cues used for orientation on chemical trails by laboratory colonies of Atta cephalotes, Atta laevigata and Acromyrmex octospinosus were studied. The ants used cues other than the odour trail itself when homing. When cues gave contradictory information, Atta workers used them in a certain hierarc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnimal behaviour Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 1443 - 1453
Main Authors Vilela, Evaldo F., Jaffé, Klaus, Howse, Philip E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kent Elsevier Ltd 1987
Elsevier
Subjects
Animal ethology
Biological and medical sciences
Formicidae
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Atta cephalotes
Acromyrmex octospinosus
Insecta
Spatial orientation
Social insect
Formicoidea
Myrmicidae
Homing
Arthropoda
Vision
Olfaction
Hymenoptera
Invertebrata
Aculeata
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Summary:The cues used for orientation on chemical trails by laboratory colonies of Atta cephalotes, Atta laevigata and Acromyrmex octospinosus were studied. The ants used cues other than the odour trail itself when homing. When cues gave contradictory information, Atta workers used them in a certain hierarchy: presence of an odour trail, visual cues or spatial layout of the trail, ‘odour cues’ on the trail and gravitational cues. Acromyrmex octospinosus seemed to have a different hierarchy, giving more importance to odour cues on the trail. The possible nature of the ‘odour cues’ on the trail is discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:0003-3472
1095-8282
DOI:10.1016/S0003-3472(87)80017-9