Dissertation Research: Behavioral Responses of the Ant Pheidole Dentata to Parasitism by the Phorid Fly Apocephalus Feeneri

寄生虫直接从宿主身上吸取营养，并在许多方面对宿主产生不利影响。在蚂蚁物种的主要工人Pheidole dentata是易受寄生的蚤蝇Apocephalus feeneri。被蚤蝇寄生对于被寄生的蚂蚁来说是致命的，以前的研究表明，当蚤蝇被发现时，觅食专业的蚂蚁会试图隐藏自己。尽管有这种避免寄生的尝试，一小部分专业学生还是成功地被隐孢子虫寄生。本研究的目的是通过比较被寄生的雄鸟和未被寄生的雄鸟的行为来观察它们的变化。在一个群体中标记相同数量的被寄生和未被寄生的雄蜂，并在蚤蝇幼虫发育期间使用标准行为图技术观察它们的行为，比较被寄生和未被寄生的雄蜂的行为频率和顺序。为了突出寄生对P. dentata的特化防御反应的影响，将被寄生的少校暴露于Solenopsis属的火蚁。这些实验的结果将影响未来的生态学研究与P. dentata和潜在的生物控制工作在其他蚁蚤系统。

Parasites draw nutrition directly from their hosts and adversely affect them inmany ways. Major workers in the ant species Pheidole dentata are susceptible toparasitism by the phorid fly Apocephalus feeneri. Parasitism by the phorid is fatal forthe parasitized ant and previous work has shown that foraging majors will try toconceal themselves when phorids are detected. In spite of this attempt to avoidparasitism, a small percentage of majors are successfully parasitized by phorids. Thegoal of this study is to examine changes of those parasitized majors by comparingtheir behavior to that of non-parasitized nestmates. Equal numbers of parasitized andnon-parasitized majors will be marked in a colony and their behaviors observed usingstandard ethogram techniques for the duration of the phorid's larval development.Frequencies and sequences of behaviors in parasitized and non-parasitized majorswill be compared. To highlight the effect of parasitism on the specialized defensiveresponse of P. dentata, parasitized majors will be exposed to fire ants in the genusSolenopsis. The outcome of these experiments will affect future ecological studieswith P. dentata and potentially bio-control efforts in other ant-phorid systems.