FIRST EVIDENCE FOR SLAVE REBELLION: ENSLAVED ANT WORKERS SYSTEMATICALLY KILL THE BROOD OF THEIR SOCIAL PARASITE PROTOMOGNATHUS AMERICANUS
FIRST EVIDENCE FOR SLAVE REBELLION: ENSLAVED ANT WORKERS SYSTEMATICALLY KILL THE BROOD OF THEIR SOCIAL PARASITE PROTOMOGNATHUS AMERICANUS
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00591.x
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发表时间：
2009-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Foitzik, Susanne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Achenbach, Alexandra;Foitzik, Susanne
在共同进化的过程中，群居寄生物进化出了复杂的策略来利用其群居寄主的育婴行为。制造奴隶的蚁后入侵宿主蚁群并杀死或驱逐所有成年宿主蚂蚁。寄主工蜂与剩下的幼虫离得很近，它们被骗去照顾寄生虫的幼虫。由于它们的高流行率和频繁袭击，随后被盗的寄主巢也同样被奴役，造奴蚁对它们的寄主施加了大量的选择，导致了抗寄生虫适应的进化。然而，到目前为止，所有的宿主防御都是在宿主工蜂被寄生之前激活的，而选择被认为是无法作用于已经被奴役的宿主的特征的。然而，我们在这里展示了被奴役的Temnothorax工人的反抗，它们杀死了三分之二的制造奴隶的蚂蚁Protomognathus americanus的雌性蛹。因此，奴隶减少了寄生虫对周围相关宿主殖民地的长期影响。在宿主防御失败后，这种被奴役工人的新型抗寄生虫策略构成了共同进化斗争的新水平。我们的发现类似于最近对鸟类寄生虫宿主的发现，寄生虫卵的完美模仿导致小鸡识别的进化作为第二道防线。
During the process of coevolution, social parasites have evolved sophisticated strategies to exploit the brood care behavior of their social hosts. Slave-making ant queens invade host colonies and kill or eject all adult host ants. Host workers, which eclose from the remaining brood, are tricked into caring for the parasite brood. Due to their high prevalence and frequent raids, following which stolen host broods are similarly enslaved, slave-making ants exert substantial selection upon their hosts, leading to the evolution of antiparasite adaptations. However, all host defenses shown to date are active before host workers are parasitized, whereas selection was thought to be unable to act on traits of already enslaved hosts. Yet, here we demonstrate the rebellion of enslaved Temnothorax workers, which kill two-thirds of the female pupae of the slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus. Thereby, slaves decrease the long-term parasite impact on surrounding related host colonies. This novel antiparasite strategy of enslaved workers constitutes a new level in the coevolutionary battle after host colony defense has failed. Our discovery is analogous to recent findings in hosts of avian brood parasites where perfect mimicry of parasite eggs leads to the evolution of chick recognition as a second line of defense.