Euprenolepis procera

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Euprenolepis procera
Workers of Euprenolepis procera feeding on a Pleurotus mushroom
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Genus: Euprenolepis
Species:
E. procera
Binomial name
Euprenolepis procera
(Emery, 1900)
Synonyms[1]
  • Prenolepis (Euprenolepis) procera Emery, 1900
  • Paratrechina (Euprenolepis) procera (Emery, 1900)
  • Camponotus (Myrmosphincta) antespectans Forel, 1913
  • Prenolepis (Euprenolepis) antespectans (Forel, 1913)
  • Paratrechina (Euprenolepis) antespectans (Forel, 1913)
  • Euprenolepis antespectans (Forel, 1913)

Euprenolepis procera is a species of

entomologist, in 1900.[3] In 2008, Witte & Maschwitz discovered that E. procera specialises in harvesting mushrooms in the rainforest for food, representing a new, previously unreported feeding strategy in ants.[2]

Distribution

Euprenolepis procera is endemic to South East Asia, being found in the rainforests of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.[1] In Malaysia, where they have been studied, individual colonies were recorded to occur at a density of one nest per approximately 150 m2, but Witte & Maschwitz stated this may be an underestimate as they may not have discovered some colonies.[2]

Taxonomy

This species was

first described in 1900 by Carlo Emery, under the name Prenolepis procera;[1] Emery based his description on material collected by the Italian anthropologist Elio Modigliani in his travels in Malesia.[4] Emery assigned the species to the subgenus Euprenolepis in 1905, and moved that subgenus to the genus Paratrechina in 1925. In 1995, Bolton raised the subgenus to the rank of genus, giving the species its current name.[1]

In 1913, Auguste-Henri Forel described a new species, Camponotus (Myrmosphincta) antespectans, which was also moved to Euprenolepis by Emery. This is now considered a synonym of E. procera.[1]

Description

Workers

The workers are polymorphic, consisting of a minor (body length = 3.5–4.5 millimetres or 0.14–0.18 inches) and major caste (body length = 5–6 mm or 0.20–0.24 in); the major caste is relatively rare compared to the minor caste. The workers' heads are heart-shaped, broader than they are long and a "dark-reddish brown" colour. The antennae of both worker castes are made up of twelve segments and are a lighter colour than their heads, their mandibles have five teeth. The major workers superficially resemble species of Pseudolasius.[1]

Reproductive castes

The

simple eyes as well. The queens are covered in a dense layer of hairs. The antennae of the males are made of thirteen segments, unlike twelve in workers, and their mandibles have only one well-developed tooth. The queens are a similar colour to the workers, but have mottled areas that are a lighter colour than the rest of the body.[1]

Behaviour

Euprenolepis procera is

trophobiont mealybugs to parts of plants that are growing.[2]

Feeding

Over 200 species of ants are known to eat fungi as a major part of their diet, but these ants in the

mycorrhizal fungi form part of their diet. During field observations only two occurrences of them feeding on animals (a grasshopper and a snail) were recorded, compared to 266 mushrooms which were consumed. In a laboratory study, colonies thrived for over thirteen weeks on a diet consisting only of Pleurotus and Agaricus mushrooms. Thus, the natural diet is believed to consist almost entirely of mushrooms. Feeding experiments demonstrated that they are able to live off a diet of honey or insects as well.[2]

Once they locate mushrooms which they consider edible in the wild, they harvest them efficiently, removing over 70% of the mushroom within four hours. In a laboratory study, they almost completely harvested a Pleurotus mushroom that weighed 40 grams (1.4 oz) within three hours. Once they have harvested the mushrooms, they transport pieces of them back to their nest and arrange them into piles 1–4 cm (0.4–1.6 in) in diameter. Over time these piles turn from white to black, losing mass as workers continuously chew and feed on the fungi and in turn feed the ant

fermentation occurring. This food processing continues for around a week, depending on the size of the original pile of pieces. If the fungal material is kept away from the ants it quickly spoils, becoming infested by bacteria and smelling unpleasant, but when processed by the ants no spoiling has been observed. The exact mechanisms of the processing of fungi are under investigation.[2]

They are thought to have evolved this feeding habit because few other animals eat mushrooms and therefore there is little competition for the food resource. When mushrooms were placed near nests of E. procera they were by far the main consumer of the mushrooms with other animals barely feeding on them.[2]

Ecological significance

The effects that harvesting of mushrooms by E. procera has on the ecosystem is currently unknown. They may have similar effects as ants that harvest seeds of plants, by changing the relative abundance of different fungal species.[2]

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 17593476
    .
  2. ^
    S2CID 19228479
    .
  3. ^ "Euprenolepis procera (Emery, 1900)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  4. ^ Carlo Emery (1900). "Formiche raccolte da Elio Modigliani in Sumatra, Engano e Mentawei" [Ants collected by Elio Modigliani in Sumatra, Enggano Island and the Mentawei Islands]. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova). 2 (in Italian). 20 (40): 661–722.
  5. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.102003.152626
    .
  6. ^ Marcus, Adam (2008-07-30). "Fungus-Loving Ants Live Primarily on Mushrooms". Scientific American. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
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