Dissertation Research: Behavioral Responses of the Ant Pheidole Dentata to Parasitism by the Phorid Fly Apocephalus Feeneri

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

Parasites draw nutrition directly from their hosts and adversely affect them in many ways. Major workers in the ant species Pheidole dentata are susceptible to parasitism by the phorid fly Apocephalus feeneri. Parasitism by the phorid is fatal for the parasitized ant and previous work has shown that foraging majors will try to conceal themselves when phorids are detected. In spite of this attempt to avoid parasitism, a small percentage of majors are successfully parasitized by phorids. The goal of this study is to examine changes of those parasitized majors by comparing their behavior to that of non-parasitized nestmates. Equal numbers of parasitized and non-parasitized majors will be marked in a colony and their behaviors observed using standard ethogram techniques for the duration of the phorid's larval development. Frequencies and sequences of behaviors in parasitized and non-parasitized majors will be compared. To highlight the effect of parasitism on the specialized defensive response of P. dentata, parasitized majors will be exposed to fire ants in the genus Solenopsis. The outcome of these experiments will affect future ecological studies with P. dentata and potentially bio-control efforts in other ant-phorid systems.