The aphid-tending ant Lasius fuji exhibits reduced aggression toward aphids marked with ant cuticular hydrocarbons
The aphid-tending ant Lasius fuji exhibits reduced aggression toward aphids marked with ant cuticular hydrocarbons
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DOI：
10.1007/s10144-012-0314-9
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发表时间：
2012-07-01
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Itino, Takao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Endo, Shintaro;Itino, Takao
一些蚜虫物种由蚂蚁照顾，蚂蚁保护蚜虫免受敌人的攻击，但蚂蚁有时会捕食它们所照顾的蚜虫，这取决于资源条件。先前的一项研究表明，蚂蚁Lasius尼日尔捕食的蚜虫个体经历了蚂蚁的照顾比那些没有。这一观察导致了一种假设，即蚂蚁将一些物质转移到它们所关注的蚜虫身上，并选择性地捕食没有这些物质的蚜虫。在这项研究中，我们专注于表皮碳氢化合物（CHCs），这是蚂蚁作为巢识别物质，并测试是否蚂蚁区分蚜虫的基础上CHCs。我们证实，蚂蚁Lasius fuji捕食蚜虫，参加了他们的巢比那些没有参加。玻璃假人处理CHCs从出席蚜虫攻击蚂蚁比那些处理CHCs从非出席蚜虫。蚂蚁取食蚜虫的CHC谱与蚂蚁相似，表明蚂蚁的CHC通过蚂蚁取食转移到蚜虫体表。这些结果支持了蚂蚁用CHC“标记”其所关注的蚜虫的假设，并且CHC降低了蚂蚁捕食强度。
Some aphid species are attended by ants, which protect aphids against enemies, but ants sometimes prey on the aphids they are attending depending on the resource conditions. A previous study indicated that the ant Lasius niger preys less on the aphid individuals that experienced ant attendance than on those that did not. This observation leads to the hypothesis that ants transfer some substances to the aphids they attend and selectively prey on the aphids without the substances. In this study, we focus on cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), which are used by ants as nestmate recognition substances, and test whether ants discriminate the aphids on the basis of CHCs. We confirmed that the ant Lasius fuji preyed less on the aphids that were attended by their nestmates than those that were not attended. Glass dummies treated with CHCs from attended aphids were attacked less by ants than those treated with CHCs from non-attended aphids. The CHC profiles of ant attended aphids resembled those of the ants, suggesting that ants' CHCs are transferred to the aphids' body surface through ant attendance. These results support the hypothesis that ants "mark" their attended aphids with their CHCs and the CHCs reduce ant predation intensity.