A species of Amazonian tree ant builds elaborate traps to snare its prey, which is then stretched like a victim on a medieval rack before being hacked to pieces. With cunning and patience, Allomerus decemarticulatus worker-ants cut hairs from the stem of the plant they inhabit, and use the tiny fibres to build a spongy platform, French researchers say.
The structure is glued together with a protein that comes from chewed and regurgitated vegetation. The ants make holes in the platform and put in place pieces of sooty mould, which quickly grows around the structure and reinforce it.
The ants then lurk in the holes, just out of sight, with their mandibles open.
When a juicy insect passes overhead, the ants reach up and grab its free legs, wings and antennae, stretching it against the gallery.
Swarms of workers then rush over the hapless prey, stinging it into submission. The prone insect is then carted off towards the ants’ home, a leaf pouch, where it is carved up.
The study, led by Jerome Orivel of Toulouse University in southwestern France, is published on Thursday in Nature, the weekly British science journal.
The authors say the discovery is an example of a ”tripartite association,” by which A. decemarticulatus uses a host plant (Hirtella physophora) and farms the unusual fungus in order to exploit a niche opportunity for protein. – Sapa-AFP