3 Comments

1. David says:

   January 6, 2013 at 12:59 pm

   See also Collins H.L., Markin G.P. (1971) Inquilines and other arthropods collected from nests of the imported fire ant, Solenopsis saevissima richteri. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 64(6): 1376-1380 and Frank, J.H. (1977) Myrmecosaurus ferrugineus, an Argentinian Beetle from Fire Ant Nests in the United States. The Florida Entomologist 60 (1): 31-36. Presumably there is a competitive advantage for both the fire ant and this beetle species to coexist?

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   1. myrmecos says:

      January 6, 2013 at 3:12 pm

      Thanks for the bibliography, David. I’m guessing this would be predator/prey relationship, as many ant nest staphs feed on ant brood.

      I’d love to see these in the field!

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      1. David says:

         January 6, 2013 at 4:28 pm

         Thanks Alex!

         I’d be curious to know whether the beetles prey upon ant larvae (as with Martinezia dutertrei on Solenopsis invicta), acquire food through strigilation (as with Euparia castanea also on S.invicta), or by plundering ant booty (!)

         The next question would be akin to bats and moths- how do fire ants defend against this, has there been an evolution of back-and-forth defensive/offensive strategies, do they bother, or is there some sort of advantage to keeping them around?

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