Skip to main content

Spatial expectation of food location in an ant on basis of previous food locations (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Journal of Ethology volume 35, pages 83–91 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

We examined if workers of the ant species Myrmica ruginodis would be able to localize a food source on the basis of its previous locations. To this end we progressively relocated food to predefined positions, both linearly, i.e., farther or nearer the nest entrance, and circularly, i.e., to the left or to the right of the nest entrance. After removal of food from one site and prior to the subsequent relocalization of the food to the next site, we counted the number of ants present at the different possible food locations. We found that the ants initially came to the site from where the food had just been removed, but following two or three relocations of food, they foraged around the following, expected food location in statistically significant numbers. The workers thus appeared to be able to spatially anticipate where food would be on the basis of its previous localizations. Such ability—hitherto unreported in ants—requires a knowledge of the environment around the nest, a long-term visual memory, memorization of the location of some food locations, knowledge of the pattern of food supply, some degree of providence, presentation of some anticipative behavior, and estimation of their orientation of movement and distances walked. These seven capabilities have been separately observed in previous studies on Myrmica species. Here, we report that the ant M. ruginodis also has the ability to learn a relation between previous food sites and a next one.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Cammaerts M-C (2004) Classical conditioning, temporal learning and spatial learning in the ant Myrmica sabuleti. Biologia 59:243–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2005) How do workers of the ant Myrmica sabuleti (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) estimate the distance they walk? Belg J Entomol 7:87–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2010) Estimation of elapsed time by ants. Bull Soc R Belg Entomol 146:189–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2011) Visual vertical subtended angle of Myrmica ruginodis and Myrmica rubra (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). Bull Soc R Belg Entomol 147:113–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2012a) Navigation system of the ant Myrmica rubra (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Myrmecol News 16:111–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2012b) The visual perception of the ant Myrmica ruginodis (Hymenoptera—Formicidae). Biologia 67:1165–1174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2013a) Spatio-temporal learning in three Myrmica species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull Ann Soc R Belg Entomol 149:131–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2013b) Sensu stricto individual conditioning, and imitation, in the ant Myrmica sabuleti (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Ann Soc Entomol Fr 49:402–412

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C (2013c) Age dependent spatio-temporal learning in the ant Myrmica sabuleti (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull Soc R Belg Entomol 149:205–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Cammaerts R (1980) Food recruitment strategies of the ants Myrmica sabuleti and Myrmica ruginodis. Behav Process 5:251–270

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Cammaerts R (1999) Marking of nest entrances and their vicinity in the ant Myrmica rubra. Biologia 54:553–566

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Cammaerts R (2000) Foraging area marking in two related Tetramorium ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Insect Behav 13:679–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Cammaerts R (2015a) Ontogenesis of ants’ cognitive abilities (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Adv Stud Biol 7:335–348 (synopsis: 349–350)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Cammaerts R (2015b) Expectative behavior can be acquired by ants in the course of their life. Trends Entomol 11:73–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Gosset G (2014) Impact of age, activity and diet on the conditioning performance in the ant Myrmica ruginodis used as a biological model. Int J Biol 6(2):10–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Nemeghaire S (2012) Why do workers of Myrmica ruginodis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) navigate by relying mainly on their vision? Bull Soc R Belg Entomol 148:42–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Rachidi Z (2009) Olfactive conditioning and use of visual and odorous elements for movement in the ant Myrmica sabuleti (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Myrmecol News 12:117–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammaerts M-C, Rachidi Z, Beke S, Essaadi Y (2012) Use of olfactory and visual cues for traveling by the ant Myrmica ruginodis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Myrmecol News 16:45–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherix D, Rosengren R (1979) Estimation de la fidélité sur pistes et de l’âge des fourrageuses chez Formica lugubris Zett. dans le Jura Suisse par la méthode de la coloration au spray. C R UIEIS section française Lausanne, pp 61–69

  • Correia SPC, Dickinson A, Clayton NS (2007) Western scrub-jays anticipate future needs independently of their current motivational state. Curr Biol 17:856–861

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cromwell HC, Schultz W (2003) Effects of expectations for different reward magnitudes on neuronal activity in primate striatum. J Neurophysiol 89:2823–2838. doi:10.1152/jn.01014.2002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eacott MJ, Easton A, Zinkivskay A (2005) Recollection in an episodic-like memory task in the rat. Learn Mem 12:221–223

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Evershed RP, Morgan ED, Cammaerts M-C (1981) Identification of the trail pheromone of the ant Myrmica rubra L. and related species. Naturwissenschaften 76:374–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferkin MH, Combs A, del Barco-Trillo J, Pierce AA, Franklin S (2008) Meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, have the capacity to recall the “what”, “where”, and “when” of a single past event. Anim Cognit 11:147–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franks NR, Richardson T (2006) Teaching in tandem-running ants. Nature 439:153. doi:10.1038/439153a

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ghose GM, Bearl DW (2010) Attention directed by expectations enhances receptive fields in cortical area MT. Vis Res 50:441–451. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2009.10.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gould JL (1982) Ethology The mechanisms and evolution of behavior. W W Norton & Co., New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodges CM (1981) Optimal foraging in bumblebees: hunting by expectation. Anim Behav 29:1166–1171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodges CN (1985) Bumble bee foraging: energetic consequences of using a threshold departure rule. Ecology 66:188–197. doi:10.2307/1941319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (1990) The ants. Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob S (2002) La curiosité: éthologie et psychologie. Mardaga, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Ksiksi T, Laca EA (2002) Cattle do remember locations of preferred food over extended periods. Asian Aust J Anim Sci 15:900–904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laca EA (1998) Spatial memory and food searching mechanisms of cattle. J Range Manag 54:370–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levi WM (1986) The Pigeon. Levi Publ. Co., Sumter

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulcahy NJ, Call J (2006) Apes save tools for future use. Science 312:1038–1040

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Orr AG, Charles JK (1994) Foraging in the giant forest ant, Camponotus gigas (Smith) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Naturwissenschaften 91:97–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Passera L, Aron S (2005) Les fourmis: comportement, organisation sociale et évolution. Les Presses Scientifiques du CNRC, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearce JM (2008) Animal learning and cognition: an introduction. Psychology Press, Hove

    Google Scholar 

  • Rachidi Z, Cammaerts M-C, Debeir O (2008) Morphometric study of the eye of three species of Myrmica (Formicidae). Belg J Entomol 10:81–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts WA (1979) Spatial memory in the rat on a hierarchical maze. Learn Motiv 10:117–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts WA, Van Veldhuizen N (1985) Spatial memory in pigeons on the radial maze. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Proc 11:241–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosengren R (1971) Route fidelity, visual memory and recruitment behaviour in foraging wood ants of the genus Formica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Acta Zool Fennica 133:1–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma J, Sugihara H, Katz Y, Schummers J, Tenenbaum J, Sur M (2015) Spatial attention and temporal expectation under timed uncertainty predictably modulate neuronal responses in monkeys VI. Cereb Cortex 25:2894–2906 doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu086

  • Siegel S, Castellan NJ (1989) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioural sciences. McGraw-Hill, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R, Gehring W (1999) Biologie et physiologie animales. Thieme Berlag, Paris

  • Winter Y, Stich KP (2005) Foraging in a complex naturalistic environment: capacity of spatial working memory in flower bats. J Exp Biol 208:539–548. doi:10.1242/jeb.01416

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We sincerely acknowledge three anonymous referees for their judicious comments which improved our paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Biologie des Organismes, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Av. F.D. Roosevelt, CP 160/12, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Marie-Claire Cammaerts

  2. Brussels, Belgium

    Roger Cammaerts

Authors
  1. Marie-Claire Cammaerts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Roger Cammaerts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie-Claire Cammaerts.

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cammaerts, MC., Cammaerts, R. Spatial expectation of food location in an ant on basis of previous food locations (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). J Ethol 35, 83–91 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-016-0494-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-016-0494-4

Keywords

  • Anticipation
  • Foraging
  • Foresight
  • Memory
  • Myrmica ruginodis