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The ant colony is a heavily guarded, nearly impenetrable fortress rich with bountiful resources. Intruders attempting to infiltrate the ant society are immediately discovered via chemical cues, overtaken and dismantled. Nothing gets by, except for the few highly specialized, that have evolved the necessary chemical, morphological and behavioural tools to hack the complex recognition and communication system of the ants. Flying under the ant radar represents a huge boon that not only grants free access to the bounty of the colony—including the ants themselves—but further provides a safe and well-protected harbor to develop and live.
1]. The use of highly sophisticated communication systems is the key attribute that enables ants to act as a superorganism, thereby facilitating their dominance of terrestrial ecosystems [1].
2]. It is thus not surprising that most invertebrate myrmecophiles have converged upon this channel to facilitate some level of protection or integration within the ant society. Indeed, chemically based protection for life with ants has independently evolved in a broad range of myrmecophilous invertebrates (e.g., pselaphine rove beetles [3] ant nest beetles [4,5], lycaenid butterflies [6], and spiders [7]).
8–10]). Adults of Ponerinae, Nothomyrmecinae, Pseudomyrmecinae and Myrmecinae ants are able to produce stridulations consisting of low frequency sounds (a series of repeated ‘chirps’), by rubbing a tergal carena, called the “scraper” or plectrum (Fig 1, 1A3 and 1A4), against a minutely ridged area, called the “file” or pars stridens (Fig 1, 1A2 and 1A5), placed between two abdominal segments [1,11,12]. Ants produce such acoustical signals for various purposes, including social organization, recruitment, mating, or help request [13].
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1]. The use of highly sophisticated communication systems is the key attribute that enables ants to act as a superorganism, thereby facilitating their dominance of terrestrial ecosystems [1].
2]. It is thus not surprising that most invertebrate myrmecophiles have converged upon this channel to facilitate some level of protection or integration within the ant society. Indeed, chemically based protection for life with ants has independently evolved in a broad range of myrmecophilous invertebrates (e.g., pselaphine rove beetles [3] ant nest beetles [4,5], lycaenid butterflies [6], and spiders [7]).
8–10]). Adults of Ponerinae, Nothomyrmecinae, Pseudomyrmecinae and Myrmecinae ants are able to produce stridulations consisting of low frequency sounds (a series of repeated ‘chirps’), by rubbing a tergal carena, called the “scraper” or plectrum (Fig 1, 1A3 and 1A4), against a minutely ridged area, called the “file” or pars stridens (Fig 1, 1A2 and 1A5), placed between two abdominal segments [1,11,12]. Ants produce such acoustical signals for various purposes, including social organization, recruitment, mating, or help request [13].
The Pied Piper: A Parasitic Beetle’s Melodies Modulate Ant Behaviours
Ants use various communication channels to regulate their social organisation. The main channel that drives almost all the ants’ activities and behaviours is the chemical one, but it is long acknowledged that the acoustic channel also plays an important role. However, very little is known...
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