Division of labour between reproductive queens and sterile workers is a hallmark of insect societies and an important component of their ecological success (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990). In ants and other social Hymenoptera forming large and complex societies, reproductive division of labour is generally associated with marked morphological differences between the queen and worker castes. These d...

Many systems in the world are hierarchical and agentbased. These systems have natural higher levels in which agents are composites of lower-level agents and their environment. One example of such a system is a manycolony social insect system, such as those of Harvester Ants (1). At the lower level of description, the agents of the colony are individual ants, which act in their environment. At a...

Harvester ants (Messor galla Forel) defied various control strategies. Two field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of Spent Engine-Oil and other nature-based materials on their emergence in Maiduguri, Borno State of Nigeria. The treatments evaluated are spot application of spent engine-oil and some natural materials in experiment 1 and individual and equal mixture of Pure Neem ...

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aims at reversing negative effects agricultural intensification on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Landscape context may modulate, even constraint, AES effectiveness. We evaluate effectiveness ant abundance, diversity community composition. Ants are an ecologically dominant group whose response to conservation efforts...

Colonies of the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, do various tasks outside the nest. There is a daily temporal pattern in the numbers of ants engaged in each of five activities: foraging, nest maintenance, patrolling, midden work and convening. Perturbations were carried out in the field to investigate how the daily round changes in response to environmental events and colony needs. Int...

We revise species of seed-harvester ants in the genus Pogonomyrmex (subfamily Myrmicinae) that occur on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Three species are recognized: P. aterrimus Wheeler (new status), P. saucius Wheeler and Mann, and P. schmitti Forel. Pogonomyrmex schmitti sublaevigatus Wheeler (= schmitti) and P. schmitti darlingtoni Wheeler (= aterrimus) are synonomized. We also describe...

This paper addresses the issue of applying decentralised task allocation and task switching mechanisms in heterogeneous groups of robots in order to increase their ability to respond to task demand effectively. Our work is strongly inspired by the behaviour of eusocial insects (typically ants) and their behaviour of switching tasks in order to meet the changing demand. The objective of this pap...

The evolution of mating systems in eusocial Hymenoptera is constrained because females mate only during a brief period early in life, whereas inseminated queens and their stored sperm may live for decades. Considerable research effort during recent years has firmly established that obligate multiple mating has evolved only a few times: in Apis honeybees, Vespula wasps, Pogonomyrmex harvester an...