Cargando…

The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi

The arboreal ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is the most dominant arboreal ant in the pine forests of the coastal plain of northern Florida. The majority of pine trees harbor a colony of these ants. The colonies inhabit multiple chambers abandoned by bark-mining caterpil...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Tschinkel, Walter R.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: University of Arizona Library 2002
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC355912/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15455046
_version_ 1782121245642326016
author Tschinkel, Walter R.
author_facet Tschinkel, Walter R.
author_sort Tschinkel, Walter R.
collection PubMed
description The arboreal ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is the most dominant arboreal ant in the pine forests of the coastal plain of northern Florida. The majority of pine trees harbor a colony of these ants. The colonies inhabit multiple chambers abandoned by bark-mining caterpillars, especially those of the family Cossidae, in the outer bark of living pines. They also inhabit ground level termite galleries in the bark, often locating the queen in galleries. The density of chambers and ants is highest in the base of the tree and drops sharply with height on the trunk. Because chambers are formed in the inner layer of bark, they gradually move outward as more bark layers are laid down, eventually sloughing off the tree's outer surface. Chambers have a mean lifetime of about 25 yr. The abundant chambers in pine bark are excavated by a small population of caterpillars and accumulate over decades. Ant colonies also inhabit abandoned galleries of woodboring beetles in dead branches in the crowns of pines. Because newly mated queens found colonies in abandoned woodboring beetle galleries in the first dead branches that form on pine saplings, C. ashmeadi is dependent on cavities made by other insects throughout its life cycle, and does little if any excavation of its own. Mature colonies nest preferentially in chambers greater than 10 cm(2) in area, a relatively rare chamber size. In natural pine forests, this does not seem to limit the ant's populations. Founding queens containabout 50% fat and lose about half of their dry weight during the claustral period, converting approximately half of this lost weight into progeny. The claustral period is about 40 to 50 days at 27°C. Mature colonies contain several tens of thousands of workers (est. up to 80,000), and have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years. Each colony occupies an entire tree, and sometimes two trees if they are close together. Within a colony, there is a single queen capable of laying up to 450 eggs/day during the warm season. Such queens weigh 12 to 18 mg, have 50 to 60 active ovarioles and 120 to 600 vitellogenic oocytes in their ovaries. Mature colonies begin producing sexual brood in late April or early May. Sexual adults are present from late May through June. Mating flights commence in June and most sexuals have left their natal nests by late July. Female sexuals are an especially large investment; the energetic content of a single, flight-ready female sexual is almost 20 times that of a worker. The newly mated queen sequesters a mean of 2.64 × 10(6) sperm in her spermatheca, a supply that should last her for 16 years at the observed reproductive rates.
format Text
id pubmed-355912
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2002
publisher University of Arizona Library
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-3559122004-09-27 The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi Tschinkel, Walter R. J Insect Sci Articles The arboreal ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is the most dominant arboreal ant in the pine forests of the coastal plain of northern Florida. The majority of pine trees harbor a colony of these ants. The colonies inhabit multiple chambers abandoned by bark-mining caterpillars, especially those of the family Cossidae, in the outer bark of living pines. They also inhabit ground level termite galleries in the bark, often locating the queen in galleries. The density of chambers and ants is highest in the base of the tree and drops sharply with height on the trunk. Because chambers are formed in the inner layer of bark, they gradually move outward as more bark layers are laid down, eventually sloughing off the tree's outer surface. Chambers have a mean lifetime of about 25 yr. The abundant chambers in pine bark are excavated by a small population of caterpillars and accumulate over decades. Ant colonies also inhabit abandoned galleries of woodboring beetles in dead branches in the crowns of pines. Because newly mated queens found colonies in abandoned woodboring beetle galleries in the first dead branches that form on pine saplings, C. ashmeadi is dependent on cavities made by other insects throughout its life cycle, and does little if any excavation of its own. Mature colonies nest preferentially in chambers greater than 10 cm(2) in area, a relatively rare chamber size. In natural pine forests, this does not seem to limit the ant's populations. Founding queens containabout 50% fat and lose about half of their dry weight during the claustral period, converting approximately half of this lost weight into progeny. The claustral period is about 40 to 50 days at 27°C. Mature colonies contain several tens of thousands of workers (est. up to 80,000), and have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years. Each colony occupies an entire tree, and sometimes two trees if they are close together. Within a colony, there is a single queen capable of laying up to 450 eggs/day during the warm season. Such queens weigh 12 to 18 mg, have 50 to 60 active ovarioles and 120 to 600 vitellogenic oocytes in their ovaries. Mature colonies begin producing sexual brood in late April or early May. Sexual adults are present from late May through June. Mating flights commence in June and most sexuals have left their natal nests by late July. Female sexuals are an especially large investment; the energetic content of a single, flight-ready female sexual is almost 20 times that of a worker. The newly mated queen sequesters a mean of 2.64 × 10(6) sperm in her spermatheca, a supply that should last her for 16 years at the observed reproductive rates. University of Arizona Library 2002-07-12 /pmc/articles/PMC355912/ /pubmed/15455046 Text en Copyright © 2002. Open access; copyright is maintained by the authors.
spellingShingle Articles
Tschinkel, Walter R.
The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi
title The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi
title_full The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi
title_fullStr The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi
title_full_unstemmed The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi
title_short The Natural History of the Arboreal Ant, Crematogaster ashmeadi
title_sort natural history of the arboreal ant, crematogaster ashmeadi
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC355912/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15455046
work_keys_str_mv AT tschinkelwalterr thenaturalhistoryofthearborealantcrematogasterashmeadi
AT tschinkelwalterr naturalhistoryofthearborealantcrematogasterashmeadi