Polyrhachis femorata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) habitat and colony defensive immobility strategy
Sophie Petit
A B * , Peter A. Hammond B , Brian Heterick C and John J. Weyland B
A University of South Australia, UniSA STEM, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia.
B Kangaroo Island Research Station, Dudley West, Penneshaw, SA 5222, Australia.
C Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool, WA 6106, Australia.
Australian Journal of Zoology 70(4) 126-131 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO22042
Submitted: 22 November 2022 Accepted: 6 March 2023 Published: 28 April 2023
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Many animal species ‘play dead’ or feign death (in some cases called tonic immobility) as a defence strategy against predators, including some ants, although triggers and durations are poorly understood. We repeatedly observed such death-feigning behaviour in Polyrhachis femorata ants that occupied pygmy-possum nest boxes deployed on Kangaroo Island following the 2019–2020 bushfires that burnt half of the island. Most of the 759 bat and pygmy-possum boxes (901 cavities) were on burnt ground. In 3312 box cavity checks on 13 diverse properties during monitoring visits, 28 of 40 P. femorata records (first for South Australia) occurred in unburnt Critically Endangered Narrow-Leaf Mallee Woodland community, seven in adjacent mallee community containing narrow-leaf mallee, three in cup gum unburnt habitat, and two in one box on burnt ground. Fire may have affected the abundance and re-establishment of the species. Polyrhachis femorata engages in a surprising defensive immobility strategy in boxes, since it is not only undertaken by individuals facing a potential predator, but also by entire colonies. The death-feigning behaviours were complemented by plugging box entrances. Nest boxes may be used to study this mysterious behaviour in this poorly known species, although frequent observation could lead to nest abandonment by the ant.
Keywords: ant defence, bushfire, catalepsy, Eucalyptus cneorifolia, playing dead, thanatosis, tonic immobility, tree cavity, tree hollow.
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