New ant species plunders other ants' farms.Some newly discovered ants aren't exactly vandals sacking Rome, but they pillage PILLAGE. The taking by violence of private property by a victorious army from the citizens or subjects of the enemy. This, in modern times, is seldom allowed, and then, only when authorized by the commander or chief officer, at the place where the pillage is committed. valuable real estate nonetheless. The new species, in the genus Megalomyrmex, specializes in raiding the nest gardens of fungus-cultivating ants, say Rachelle M.M. Adams and Ulrich G. Mueller of the University of Texas, Austin and their coauthors. The raiders chase away the original farmers but don't fertilize the farm. The usurpers The following is a list of usurpers – illegitimate or controversial claimants to the throne in a monarchy. The word usurper is a derogatory term, and as such not easily definable, as the person seizing power normally will try to legitimise his position, while denigrating that eat the dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. fungus and chop up the farmers' left-behind larvae Larvae, in Roman religion Larvae: see lemures. as baby food for their own young. The bounty eventually runs out and the raiders move on, say the researchers in the December 2000 NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN. Megalomyrmex and other ants are known for their thieving ways. While some ant species raid farms to eat larvae, others infiltrate fungus gardens as phony nest mates that don't help with farm chores. The new species might represent a missing link between these two lifestyles, Mueller speculates. Until now, he says, "no one has documented raiding for the sake of the gardens." Four colonies of the raider species, not yet officially named, turned up in Panama as the scientists were collecting walnut-size masses of fungus farms tended by two species of Cyphomyrmex ants. Back in the lab, the researchers offered the raiders a series of ant farms tended by cultivating species. Typically, a raider scout discovers a farm, and an attack party rushes in with aggressive postures. To human eyes, the raiders look slightly undersized undersized see dwarfism, runt. . Although each of the species matures to lengths of 2 to 3 millimeters, the farmers grow "bulkier," as Adams puts it. Still, the farmers don't fight. "They run away or curl up and hope nobody notices them," she says. As they flee, some rescue larvae or a bit of fungus. The raiders prove adept at fungal nesting, tearing off bits of the sticky mass to create a cavity for their larvae and queen. They also patch divots and plug all but one tunnel using their forelegs forelegs see forelimb. inherited thick forelegs juvenile hyperostosis (inherited thick forelegs) of pigs. to pat wads of fungus into place with the facility of a lifelong inhabitant INHABITANT. One who has his domicil in a place is an inhabitant of that place; one who has an actual fixed residence in a place. 2. A mere intention to remove to a place will not make a man an inhabitant of such place, although as a sign of such intention he . The raiders seem to prevent weed outbreaks, too. They can feed on a fungal farm for weeks, but if researchers remove them, rogue molds overrun the nest in a few days. Despite such skills, the raiders "don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how to manure the garden," Mueller says. They ignore caterpillar droppings and other treasures that farmer ants use to nourish the fungus. Alfred Buschinger at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany welcomes the work as "sound." Little is known about Megalomyrmex behavior, he says. He hopes the researchers will find more colonies to double-check their findings. The discovery of such raiders fits into Mueller's work on the variety of crops raised by farmer ants (SN: 11/21/98, p. 334). Diseases can drive a farmer to a desperate experiment with a new cultivar cultivar Any variety of a plant, originating through cloning or hybridization (see clone, hybrid), known only in cultivation. In asexually propagated plants, a cultivar is a clone considered valuable enough to have its own name; in sexually propagated plants, a , but so can raids. Mueller says, "If you're a farmer and you're attacked by Vikings, what can you do?" |
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