Term of Award

Summer 2024

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Biology

Committee Chair

Joshua D. Gibson

Committee Member 1

Alan Harvey

Committee Member 2

Lissa Leege

Committee Member 3

Kevin Loope

Abstract

Dorymyrmex species, ‘pyramid’ or ‘cone’ ants, are Dolichoderines distributed across North America. Two relatively well-studied species, Dorymyrmex smithi and Dorymyrmex bureni, are commonly found throughout southeastern Georgia. These species are part of a socially parasitic relationship while simultaneously having starkly different colony structures. Dorymyrmex smithi is a polydomous, polygynous species with colonies that are often expansive, at times having hundreds to thousands of nests per colony. Dorymyrmex smithi is a temporary social parasite of D. bureni, a monodomous, monogynous species. The specific mechanism of this parasitism is currently unknown. Preliminary behavioral assay data from a limited number of sites showed that D. smithi could potentially be a ‘unicolonial’ species, due to low aggression occurring between adult workers that originated from different colonies. In this study, behavioral assays were conducted with D. smithi and D. bureni adult workers that were collected from five sites across southeastern Georgia, US. Artificial ‘parasitized’ mixed species colonies were established in the laboratory by introducing D. smithi brood (i.e., eggs and larvae) to groups of D. bureni adult workers. The D. smithi brood were reared to adulthood and a series of behavioral assays were conducted between D. smithi and D. bureni from mixed species and non-mixed species colonies. The ‘unicoloniality’ of D. smithi was tested with behavioral assays between workers originating from each of the five sites. These tests showed that D. smithi adult workers from different colonies show very little aggression during interactions. This aggression also did not correlate with geographic distance between sites. The mixed and non-mixed species assays showed that D. smithi reared by D. bureni maintain aggression with non-colonymate D. bureni while simultaneously showing less aggression toward colonymate D. bureni and increased aggression toward their former colonymate D. smithi. This suggests that these behaviors could be determined by both intrinsic (genetic) and extrinsic (environmental) factors. This work is an important early stage in understanding the mechanisms of temporary social parasitism and the complex polydomy in this Dorymyrmex system.

OCLC Number

1450368121

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

Download

Share

COinS