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Feeding Behavior in the Ant Rhopalothrix Biroi Szabó

1956; Cambridge Entomological Club; Volume: 63; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1155/1956/23572

1687-7438

Edward O. Wilson,

Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

Through recent w.ork on the biology of the tribe Dacetini , it is now known that the members of this large, cosmopolitan group are generally predators which feed pri- marily on collembolans and secondarily on other soft- bodied arthrop.ods.Most are slow-moving and rely on stealth and the trap-like a.ction o. their mandibles in securing their prey.It has been an .openquestion whether other groups of ants morphologically convergent to the dacetines, such as the tribe Basi.cerotini and genera Myrmoteras and Stegomyrmex, show similar eeding be- havior.Exclusively tropical distributions, scarceness, and small colony size have made the study o living material in these groups pr.ohibitively difficult in the past.I was fortunate, therefore, during a recent visit to New Guinea to be able to.find and study in life the basicerotine species Rhopalothrix biroi.This species was encountered in lowland rainforest in the vicinity .of the lower Busu River, near Lae.Here it is relatively common, turning up regularly in soil-litter berlesates and as strays under rotting logs on the ground.