Abstract The caterpillars of many Lepidoptera are neither attacked nor tended by ants but nevertheless appear to be obligately ant-associated and benefit from the enemy-free space created ants. Obligate myrmecophiles that do not attract through stridulatory or chemical signaling limited habitats where reliably present for other reasons, either among ant-attended hemipterans, on ant-plants, arou...

We studied the foraging and predatory behaviors of the invasive African myrmicine ant, Pheidole megacephala (F.) in its native range. Workers can singly capture a wide range of insects, including relatively large prey items. For still larger prey, they recruit at short range those nestmates situated within reach of an alarm pheromone and together spread-eagle the insect. These behaviors are com...

Khaya grandifoliola C. DC. (Meliaceae), known as African mahogany, is used in the establishment of commercial plantations for high-value timber production. This work aims to report first occurrence genus Atta a plantation this species. An ant nest mound with 105 m2 loose soil and five active holes were observed. Leaves cut into crescent shaped sections pieces young branches found near these hol...

Identifying mechanisms governing the establishment and spread of invasive species is a fundamental challenge in invasion biology. Because species invasions are frequently observed only after the species presents an environmental threat, research identifying the contributing agents to dispersal and subsequent spread are confined to retrograde observations. Here, we use a combination of seasonal ...

Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), management is constrained, in large part, by polydomy where nestmates are distributed extensively across urban landscapes, particularly within mulch. Management with trap-mulching is a novel approach derived from trap-cropping where ants are repelled from a broad domain of nest sites to smaller defined areas, which are subsequently treated with insectic...