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Oecologia

Title:		Chemical interference competition by Monomorium minimum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Author(s):		Adams ES; Traniello JF;
Address:		"Department of Biology, Harvard University, 02138, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"
Journal Title:		Oecologia
Year:		1981
Volume:		51
Issue:		2
Page Number:		265 - 270
DOI:		10.1007/BF00540612
ISSN/ISBN:		1432-1939 (Electronic) 0029-8549 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Workers of Monomorium minimum forage above-ground for dead arthropods. Small particles (<1 mg) are retrieved individually, but larger particles stimulate recruitment and are dissected by groups of workers. The recruitment pheromone originates in the Dufour's gland and the number of ants responding to a trail varies with pheromone concentration. When ants of other species are encountered at food resources, workers of M. minimum gaster-flag and extrude an irritating poison gland secretion from the sting. This chemical interference delays invasion by competitors and prolongs the period during which the colony can dissect and retrieve pieces of the food resource. M. minimum recruits at higher temperatures than sympatric ant species. The probability of interference at food baits rises from 5% to 100% when they become too large for a single worker to carry. The probability of food resource loss is higher for baits of intermediate weight (x=18.1 mg) than for those of low weight (x=0.1 mg) or high weight (x=403.1 mg)"
Keywords:
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINEAdams, Eldridge S Traniello, James F A eng Germany 1981/01/01 Oecologia. 1981 Jan; 51(2):265-270. doi: 10.1007/BF00540612"