RESEARCH ARTI CLE

A Captive Study on Activity-Rest, Nesting and Aggression

Behavior of an Indian Ant Species, Polyrhachis lacteipennis
(Smith 1858) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae)
Ranajit Karmakar

Sarmistha Banik

Tanima Biswas

Ratanlal Brahmachary

Chitta Ranjan Sahu
Received: 4 May 2011 / Revised: 28 June 2012 / Accepted: 17 July 2012 / Published online: 4 August 2012
Zoological Society, Kolkata, India 2012
Abstract In the present study, the effect of captivity on
the behavioral patterns like activity-rest time budget,
nesting, aggression etc. in a group of Polyrhachis lectei-
pennis has been documented. The ants were collected from
the natural population and maintained in the laboratory
keeping them either in a single formicarium or prepared
formicaria interconnected with tubes to observe the
behavior. About 8 types of behavioral pattern of ants were
noticed. In case of necrophoresis (carrying of dead nest-
mates), the space inside the formicarium was not found to
be sufcient to dispose off the dead nest-mates and there-
fore, all the time the workers carried the dead nest-mates
haphazardly possibly in search of suitable disposal area.
When the worker ants with dead nest-mates were allowed
to leave the formicarium, they left, disposed and came back
to the formicarium. With regard to the nesting behavior, it
was observed that the silk secreting property was not the
only larval character, the adult workers, on the other hand,
could also secrete some amount of silk. When the natural
hibiscus leaf-nest dried up in the formicarium, the workers
along with queens left the natural leaf-nest and make tube-
nest in the formicarium. The workers carried all the larvae
and pupae to the newly forming tube-nest. It was also
observed that sometimes workers took the animal food
inside the tube-nest and sometimes not. They were very
aggressive towards the intruder ants but when fellow
members, separated for several months were re-introduced,
the residents did show almost no aggression. The maxi-
mum number (n = 10) of worker ants were observed as
active during the months of May and June. Afterwards, the
number gradually declined to become lowest (n = 3) in the
month of January. Among the different behavior patterns
studied herein, most of them were found to be innate or
hard-wired, did not require the presence of stimuli like
large sized natural colony, queen, egg, larvae, pupae etc.
inside the formicarium.
Keywords Polyrhachis Captivity Activity-rest
Nesting Necrophoresis
Introduction
Socio-biological works provide important information
about various evolutionary theories and that has been
summed up in Ant Bible (Holldobler and Wilson 1990). In
this regard the ants have attracted attention since ancient
times, the study provides useful data for behavioral
observations or bio-geographical subgroup study (Kohout
1990; Leifke et al. 1998). Various authors (Hickling and
Brown 2000; Holldobler and Wilson 2009; Jones et al.
2004; Quinet et al. 2005; Roces 1996) have studied
R. Karmakar (&)
Department of Zoology, Hooghly Mohsin College,
Chinsurah, Hooghly, WB, India
e-mail: rksb_2005@yahoo.co.in
S. Banik (&)
Department of Zoology, Bethune College,
Kolkata 700 006, India
e-mail: banik_sarmistha@yahoo.co.in
T. Biswas C. R. Sahu
Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani,
Nadia, Kalyani 741235, WB, India
R. Brahmachary
21B Moti Jheel, Kolkata 700 074, India
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Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178
DOI 10.1007/s12595-012-0040-5
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different sp. of ants for their interesting behavior. It has
been reported that workers of Camponotus sp. reveal only
one of the two circadian activity patterns (diurnal or noc-
turnal) suggesting the fact that every worker is hard-
wired for either one or the other (Sharma et al. 2004a, b)
which has later been recognized as an ethological identi-
er. According to Bingham (1903) two marked worker ants
of Phedole yensis have been found to return to the nest
after detecting food source and they have led the advance
parties for collecting food from that source. Different types
of such behavior is also noticed in Polyrhachis species
including recruitment, aggression, nesting etc. have been
studied in natural population (Robson 2004). In India
*600 species of ants are available (Narendra and Sunil
Kumar 2006) and more to be discovered but this rich eld
of ant ethology lays unexplored by Indian biologists
excepting the brilliant series of ethological works on
Diacamma vagans (Bhattacharyya 1943, 1945).
With a view to these facts the present study is designed
with an approach to get in depth insight on the instinctive
behavior of an ant, Polyrhachis lacteipennis during cap-
tivity. The objective is to study (i) necrophoretic behavior
(ii) activity-rest time plan (iii) nest building capacity and
(iv) the aggression behavior particularly during captive
condition, in a population consisting of eggs larvae and
queen etc. Such study will help to generate data on ants
behavior that may further strengthen the existing knowl-
edge about the behavior of the ant and in particular sp.
studied in general.
Materials and Methods
Description
The ant species P. lacteipennis in the present study
belongs to the subfamily Formicinae of the family
Formicidae. It is black in color and can be easily iden-
tied by three pair of spines. The largest pair located in
the petiole takes the shape of abdomen i.e. the spines
curve to the shape of abdomen. Another pair has been
found in the propodeum. The tips of the spines curve
outward. These are moderate sized spines. The last pair of
short and thick spines is divergent, located in pronotum.
The petiolar spines look like horn of a bull and hence
they are commonly termed as Bullhorn ant (Narendra and
Sunil Kumar 2006). The head and the mesosoma are
nely punctured and the surface is granular. The abdomen
is opaque and non-granular as compared to the head and
mesosoma. The body size varies from 5.0 mm to 6.0 mm.
The ant species was identied by Zoological Survey of
India, Alipore, Kolkata.
Preparation of Formicarium
The formicarium was a box made up of transparent Perspex
sheet with a lid of similar material at the top measuring
about 25.5 9 20.0 9 11.0 cm
3
. There was a circular
opening of about 6.0 cm diameter at the centre of the lid
and the opening was blocked by nylon mesh so that ants
could not come out of the formicarium but there was free
ow of air. The bottom of the formicarium was provided
with a layer of sand which was covered by soil collected
from the same locality.
Another formicarium of different pattern was also pre-
pared with same measurement as previous one. It was four
chambered and were interconnected by transparent Perspex
tubes of about 11.5 cm long. For four chambers there were
four such tubes (Fig. 1). The tubes were tted in such a
way that ants of one formicarium could go to another
through these transparent tubes with ease. The tube mouth
could be blocked by rubber cork at will at both the ends in
each tube. The chambers were numbered I, II, III and IV.
Collection of Ants
From a natural population, the ants (P. lacteipennis) were
collected from a suburban area located 10 km away from
Calcutta, India. In a very close vicinity, the nests were
observed in the hibiscus (Hibiscus rosasinensis), sugarcane
(Saccharum ofcianarum) plants and also in guava (Psid-
ium guava) trees in the same area. The ants were collected
either with nest or without nest.
Fig. 1 A photograph of four formicaria made up of perspex sheet and
interconnected by perspex material transparent tube
72 Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178
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Laboratory Maintenance
The nest was brought to the laboratory and subsequently
kept in the formicarium and the ants collected without nest
were kept in the formicarium marked IV only to observe
typical movement. They were given sugar and honey
(soaked in cotton), boiled sh and egg and butter at dif-
ferent time as food. Guava or hibiscus leaves were also
provided to them in the formicarium. Dead ants of other
species (Camponotus sp.) and live caterpillar found in
marigold ower (monarch buttery) were also made
available to them. They were regularly given food and
water ad libitum. The nest was sheltered with workers,
larvae, queens etc.
Experimental Procedure
The behavioral study of the ant sp. was conducted within
the single formicarium, formicarium with chamber as well
as in the tube itself for several days to months in a year.
The number of sample varied in different experiments. The
experiment was conducted three times to observe the
behavioral pattern of the sp.
Statistical Analysis
All results are presented as mean SD of three replicate
measurements. Statistical analysis of the data was per-
formed by the Students t test using one-way ANOVA
and Tukey test. The data was considered signicant either
at p \0.05 or p \0.01 and p \0.0001.
Results and Discussion
Activities-1
When the ants (n = 50) were put in a single formicarium it
was seen that they move haphazardly and do not show any
typical notable movement.
When the ants (n = 50) were put in other formicarium
with tube attachment for about 11 days they showed typi-
cal behavior of movement in a regular fashion. Though
sufcient quantities of food were there still death of the
ants occurred in the formicarium and the size of the captive
colony became smaller. Side by side as the number of dead
nest-mates increased, the number of workers with dead
nest-mates also increased. In this situation they always
moved haphazardly within the formicarium. When the
workers were allowed to escape from the formicarium with
dead nest-mates, they quickly came out with the dead nest-
mates and went some 50100 cm away from the formica-
rium and were lost in garbage. Repeated observation
showed that the ants returned to the formicarium without
the dead nest-mates after about 1025 min. The distance
covered by the ants is shown in Table 1. It is seen from the
table that groupB was more efcient in carrying the dead
nest mates, which covered maximum distance. Further,
group B when compared with group A, shows a signicant
difference in covering travelling area. It is also evident
from the table that though maximum (102 cm) and the
minimum distance (56 cm) was covered by the ants of
group A, group B showed its efciency in covering mean
distance.
Constant checking of behavior of ants in the formica-
rium, it was seen after 10 days that the ants still remained
under the dried up leaf of guava which was given in the
formicarium. Next 15 days onwards, there were only 710
ants inside and were busy in preparing structure by gluing
the sand particles in the guava leaf (Fig. 2).
Table 1 Distance travelled by the resident worker ants carrying dead
nest-mates from the formicarium
No. of ants
(n = 24)
Size of the animal
(mm)
Distance range
(cm)
Mean SD
Gr. A (n = 8) 5.05.5 56102 76.5 16.16*
Gr. B (n = 8) 5.56.0 62101 81.3 11.43*
Gr. C (n = 8) 5.56.5 59100 80.5 14.18
Data represents mean SD of the three replicates
* Signicant at p \0.05 (t test)
Fig. 2 A dried up guava leaf from which the mingled sand particles
are hanging. These sand particles are glued together by the adults only
in the formicarium
Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178 73
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Activities-2
When Polyrhachis lacteipennis were collected along with
the guava leaf-nest, it was found that almost every night
they were busy moving inside the formicarium. The nest
collected was in forming stage and there was no egg, larva
or pupa inside but there were only workers. All the workers
(n = 25) were found to be of similar size. No queen
(female) caste was recognized inside the nest as the queen
is larger in size as compared to the workers. After about
one and half day, most of the workers were found active in
carrying dead nest-mates as was seen in previous case. The
number of ants carrying the corpse on different days is
given below (Table 2).
It is clearly evident that from day 1 through day 11, the
number of dead nest-mate carrying ants were increasing
gradually. Since the number of dead mates were increasing
day by day the ants were very much active in taking the
corpse outside showing efcient activity of the workers
removing the corpse. When the data were plotted as days
vs number of ants it shows a signicant (p \0.001) rela-
tionship (R
2
= 0.528) (see Plate 1).
Activities-3
The activity and rest time for the ants throughout the
months for 9 months (May 2009Jan 2010) study showed
an interesting result. It was observed that in the month of
June, the maximum number of ants individuals were busy
or highly active outside the tube nest (shown graphically in
Plate 2) in foraging or carrying the dead nest mates fol-
lowed by May and the lowest number was shown in the
month of January. When the data was considered for the
total activity in days it was seen that in the month of July,
17 (Table 3) days were considered as active days. When
the data was analyzed through one way ANOVA (see
Table 4) it shows a signicant result (p \0.0001).
Tukey test also reveals a signicant (p \0.0001) vari-
ation when the data were compared between months: Jan
versus June, Jan versus May, and Jan versus July. Partic-
ularly, month of May and June when compared with Oct.
Table 2 Number of ants involved in carrying corpse in different days
Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
No. of ants with
corpse*
4 2 2 4 5 5 5 5 6 5 5
* Group strength (n)
Table 3 Showing number of active days in a month for the ant sp.
(n = 50)
Month May
09
Jun
09
Jul
09
Aug
09
Sep
09
Oct
09
Nov
09
Dec
09
Jan
10
Number of
active days
8 6 17 9 8 6 6 8 10
Table 4 ANOVA table of the data represented in Plate 2
Source DF Sum of squares Mean squares F Pr [F
Month 8 404.738 50.592 18.626 \0.0001
Error 69 187.416 2.716
Total 77 592.154
Plate 1 Relationship between activities on days and the number of
ants
Plate 2 Graphical representation of the activity of the number of ants
with different months of the year (200910)
74 Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178
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and with Dec. they also showed a signicant (p \0.0001)
result.
Activities-4
The ants of this species always preferred sugar and honey
to the other food items. When the dead ants of other
species were provided to them, they quickly took them
inside. When live caterpillar was given, it was killed and
taken inside the nest. In another experiment, a similar
pattern of behavior was also observed (*40 ants). After
20 days, the leaves of the nest were found dried and curled
up. There were larvae inside the nest. In next 30 days, no
food was given except water and no larva was found live
inside except workers of similar size. No queen was
ascertained inside the nest in formicarium according to the
size. The worker ants, foraged within the formicarium,
were of at least of two sizes. After 30 days, food was
again given to them. The number of individuals reduced to
about 25 members. After 75 days from the start of
experiment, the leaves of the nest inside the formicarium
further dried up. A paper box of about 7.5 9 5.0 9
5.0 cm of size was placed inside the formicarium. After
7 days, all the worker ants were found to migrate from
dried up leaf nest to the paper box. The lid of the paper
box was not properly tted and the gap was lled up by
the ants with earthen clod, twig etc. in a similar fashion as
found in the natural nest management. The death toll
increased day by day and the last two live individuals
were observed up to 190 days.
When workers were found foraging, their activity and
body posture were normal but with any disturbance on the
oor or in the formicarium, they became stalled rst but
the antennae were moving slowly in the air. Not only that,
the body posture was also changed. The gaster of Oeco-
phylla smaragdina becomes raised when they apprehend
any danger (Holldobler and Wilson 1990) but somewhat a
different type of behaviour was observed in the present
study with the apprehension of danger. The gaster became
lowered i.e. they bent their gaster under the body towards
the mouth and the dorsal side of gaster almost touched the
ground. They stayed in that posture for a short while and
after that they ed, entered into the nest or performed
normal activity depending on the degree of danger they
apprehended.
Activities-5
Nests of P. lacteipennis were collected from same natural
population in the month of July 2009 and brought to the
laboratory on the same day and kept in the formicarium no.
I. The ants in formicarium stayed inside the leaf nest. After
about 1 h, few of them came out and started taking food.
After 4 days, one end of the interconnecting transparent
tube between formicarium I and IV (towards the formica-
rium I) was opened up and the other interconnected tube
opening between formicarium I and II remained as it was.
Nothing happened on that day but on the next day, a few
ants were noticed within the transparent tube (810 indi-
viduals). Some other worker ants (23) were also found at
the rim of the transparent tube towards the formicarium I
(Fig. 3). On 6th day, some ants (56) were found carrying
woodchip, soil particles, dried up leaf materials etc. and
two other ants were found carrying large sized larvae
(Fig. 3) to the newly made tube-nest. Another group was
found transporting the larvae into the forming tube-nest; in
the transparent tube. It was noticed that the adult workers
also have the ability to secrete some amount of nest making
silk and while checking for suitability of a future nest, the
workers secrete some amount of silk at the rim site for the
foundation of the nest. But the major work was found to be
performed by large sized larvae. The worker ants held the
larvae from the above towards the forward half of the body.
The larva spun its head with repeated forward and back-
ward movement. Gently held larva was then made to touch
the rim surface once and after that the head was retracted.
The phenomenon occurred cyclically for 45 min for that
day before noon. The same activity was repeated on the
next day for the specied period of time. It was observed
utmost two larvae were used for the job and sometimes
there was only one. The nest making activity was observed
for three consecutive days and they were found busy during
rst half of the day in silk secretion. Duty like carrying nest
Fig. 3 One Polyrhachis lacteipennis is seen with a larva and other
two are with earthen clod at the future nest entrance of the tube-nest
Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178 75
1 3
materials was generally performed all along the day.
Finally, it took 3 days to almost complete the tube-nest
and in those 3 days, the worker ants transferred all the
larvae, pupae from the drying leaf-nest to the new tube-
nest (probably there were no egg inside the old nest and
that might be due to the fact that queen(s) stopped laying
eggs after removal of leaf nest from the natural host plant).
In those three days time, the tube-nest entrance was not
nished and that duty was still on up to the 4th day. They
made the tube-nest entrance with three almost circular
passages for their entry and exit. It was also found that the
tube-nest entrance was so meticulously made that any
worker with dead nest-mate could not easily enter the nest.
At three occasions, the worker ants with dead nest-mate
tried to enter (inadvertently!) the new tube-nest but failed.
On 21st day, it was observed that there was connection
between the old leaf nest and new tube-nest as workers
were always found running between the two. They were
supposed to doing the transfer of remaining eggs, larvae
and pupae left over there after settling down in the new
tube-nest. They were found to maintain the communica-
tion for *30 days from the start of captive study within the
transparent tube. Afterwards we did not notice any such
communication between the two nests. After opening up
the leaf-nest we did not nd any remnants of egg, larva etc.
Meanwhile, the corks in the connecting tube between
formicaria I and II were now removed and subsequently the
passage from the formicarium I to the formicarium II was
now opened up. After 3 h, three ants were seen in the
formicarium II. On 5th day some more ants were noticed in
the formicarium II and some of them with dead nest-mates.
On that day, the connection between formicaria II and III
was also opened up. The ants now started to use all the
three formicaria as their foraging ground. In the formica-
rium III more ants were found with dead nest-mates. In
following days the number of dead carrying ants increased
in the formicarium III as compared to the formicarium I
and II.
The ants of formicarium IV were allowed to mix with
their colony members after 8 months. The eight-month
separation between the two groups did not elicit any
noticeable hostility. The residents touched the intruder co-
specics with the antennae and after sometime the resi-
dents went away.
Activities-6
A totally different scenario was recorded when a Leptog-
enys sp. (live) was introduced into the formicarium I to test
the aggression behaviour of P. lacteipennis. Immediately
after the intruder ant was recognized, the residents chased
it. The intruder anyway ran away to safer place. The
intruder hid itself sometimes under water pot or under old
natural dried-up nest or under pebbles but 2 days later the
residents nally traced it out and killed it.
In one months time during JulyAugust 2009, the
queen laid a new batch of eggs inside the tube nest . When
larvae were emerged they were observed cling to the upper
lateral wall. Newly laid eggs were not found on the oor of
tube-nest. Almost every week a new batch of eggs clinging
to the upper lateral wall of the tube-nest was observed. The
phenomenon continued till the end of Sep. to early Oct. but
the frequency of laying eggs was slowed down in the
month of September. Some winged and large sized castes
were observed inside. The winged castes were slender and
the larger ones were probably the queens. The number of
large sized castes was more than one inside and they were
never seen outside the new tube-nest. Within 45 days
larvae emerged from eggs and sometimes, the large-sized
larvae (last instar) were used for nest management.
The tube-nest inside the formicarium I was made by
pure larval silk and a thin inner sheet of silk was clearly
seen from outside of the tube-nest.
Activities-7
When they were provided with dead ants of other species
(Camponotus compressus and caterpillar found in marigold
ower) in the formicarium, the Polyrhachis behaved dif-
ferently towards the animal food at different time. Some-
times they took the animal food inside the tube-nest but
sometimes they did not. When there was no egg, larva etc.
inside the nest, the worker ants either took the whole ani-
mal food or part of it inside. But a different scenario
altogether was noticed when there was egg, larva inside the
tube-nest. During that time they never took or allowed to
take the dead animal inside the tube-nest. It was tested
that particular behavior by placing a dead ant of C. com-
pressus at the entry point of tube-nest for six times and on
each occasion the worker ants inside the tube-nest threw
it away after varying time intervals at different occasions.
Activities-8
The existence of common nest weaving behaviour as found
in O. smaragdina was also discovered in the Asiatic spe-
cies Polyrhachis dives by Jacobson and Wasmann (1905).
The detailed study on the behavior was made by Holldobler
and Wilson (1983). In nature, the ants construct nest among
the leaves and twigs of a wide variety of bushes and trees.
Most of the nests are built in two opposing leaves. Poly-
rhachis ants have never been observed to make chains of
their own bodies or to line up in rows in the manner routine
for Oecophylla (Holldobler and Wilson 1990). Occasion-
ally a single Polyrhachis worker pulls and slightly bends
the tip or edge of a leaf, but ordinarily the leaves are left in
76 Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178
1 3
their natural position and walls and debris are built between
them. The weaving of Polyrhachis also markedly differs
from that of Oecophylla. The spinning larvae are consid-
erably larger and appear to be at or near the end of the
terminal instar. The Polyrhachis larvae do spinning
movements by repeatedly protruding and retracting the
head region relative to their body segments while bending
the forward part of the body downward. These larvae are
very much active in spinning activities (Holldobler and
Wilson 1990).
In the nature, the construction of nest by ants usually
begins with the attachment of silk to the edge of a leaf or
stem. As spinning proceeds, some workers bring up small
particles of soil and bark, woodchips or dried leaf materi-
als. The ants also weave an inside layer of pure silk which
covers the inner face of outer wall. When viewed from the
inside, the nest resembles a large communal cocoon
(Holldobler and Wilson 1990).
A brief description of weaving behaviour P. simplex was
made by Olfer (1970). The genus Polyrhachis is very
diverse and widespread ranging from Africa to tropical
Asia. The construction of multiple nests by P. lacteipennis
was noticed in different plants in the natural population and
the similar pattern of behavior was also recorded by
Yamauchi et al. (1987) in case of P. dives.
In the present captive study, Polyrhachis was found to use
larval silk to weave their nest with the limited source of raw
materials as available within the formicarium. The ants in the
present study showed the similar natural pattern of nest
constructing behavior but handicapped by the source
materials.
The resident P. lacteipennis moved haphazardly with dead
nest mates within the formicarium and it seems likely that the
space inside the formicariumwas not sufcient for the worker
ants to proper disposal of the dead nest mates. In three occa-
sions, it was recorded that the disposal of dead nest-mates by
the worker ants and onan average they chose todispose off the
dead nest-mate some 76 cm away from the formicarium.
Withinthe formicarium, theyalways triedtondout a suitable
place for dead nest-mate disposal but the space inside the
formicarium was so small that they could not dispose off the
dead nest-mates, rather they almost all the day carried them.
After disposal some 76 cm away from the formicarium, the
likely reason why the worker ants returned to the formicarium
might be due to the development of home instinct in them
because the worker ants stayed together inside the formica-
riumfor several days. They behaved differently for dead nest-
mates and stale and rotten food materials inside the formica-
rium. The resident ants never tried to remove the stale and
rotten food from its location.
Adults could also manage to secrete some amount of silk
like material to adhere the sand particles or earthen clods
and wood chips either to the tube rim or to the guava leaf.
So the silk secreting property may not be the larval char-
acter only.
Robson (2004) and Robson and Kohout (2007, 2008)
demonstrated spider silk in the nests of some of the species
of Polyrhachis. The nests of P. pilosa and P. labiriosa were
entirely made up of spider silk only. But in our captive
P. lateipennis group of ants, the tube-nest was entirely
made up of pure larval silk and to some extent adult silk
because there was no chance for the resident worker ants to
get access to the spider silk. But this study warrants further
observation in this regard.
In case of kin recognition, the Polyrhachis could detect
and recognise the fellow members even after eighth months
of separation. It could be stated from the present study that
even after eight months in captivity, the resident ants did
not lose the body odor that might help the residents to
recognize the intruder from fellow members.
The prevention of entry of workers with dead nest-mates
intothe tube-nest was not onlyblockedbythe structureof the
gate of the tube-nest but also there was guard posted at the
gate to performthe duty of not allowing the workers with dead
nest-mates, if they tried to enter the tube nest inadvertently (!).
When there were eggs, larvae etc. inside, the workers
did not take inside the remains of dead animals. But in
natural population, during the breeding season, they might
take dead or alive animal food inside the leaf nest and this
may be due to the fact that in natural nest there are separate
chambers for eggs, larvae etc. and there also may be no
chance of possible infection from the dead animals. But in
captivity, there was no separate chamber for the brood and
there may be a chance of spread of possible infection from
dead animal food and therefore, the worker ants did not at
all take the dead animal food inside. There was guard
posted at the entrance to avert any entry of dead animal by
chance. Each time we recorded the same behavior of guard
to throw away the dead Camponotus.
According to the present study in captivity, the Poly-
rhachis clearly exhibits an activity-rest budget from the
month of May 2009 to January 2010. As the breeding
season proceeds, the number of active ants increased. The
highest number was observed in the months of June
(10.17 1.17) and May (9.88 2.80). Following those
months, the number of active ants decreased reaching
lowest number in January (2.90 1.87). In captivity also,
the duty of worker ants is to take care of the broods in the
nest and during the breeding season, more forager ants
were found which were engaged in search of food.
Conclusion
In conclusion it could be commented that most of the
behavior of Polyrhachis ants found in natural population
Proc Zool Soc (July-Dec 2012) 65(2):7178 77
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are also found in captivity and that common behavior could
not be altered in captivity. The ants under observation also
developed home-instinct behavior as recorded their return
to the formicarium after disposing off the dead nest-mates.
The present study gives an idea that all the common ant
behavior like nesting, foraging, activity-rest budget pattern,
necrophoresis etc. are innate or hard-wired and did not
change even in captivity. From another experiment, it can
be stated that even a single ant of C. compressus under
observation exhibited the innate behavior of dead nest-
mate removal in a formicarium. This investigation warrants
further study with regard to make solid comment on the
innate or hard-wired behavior of the P. lacteipennis ant
species.
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