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Intruders in the Nest: Interaction of Attaphila paucisetosa (Blattodea: Blaberoidea) with Atta cephalotes Workers (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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Abstract

The small cockroach Attaphila paucisetosa, a myrmecophilic species, was recently reported in nests of the leafcutter ant Atta cephalotes in Southwestern Colombia. We carried out both behavioral bioassays and field observations to learn more about this cockroach-myrmecophilous association. When we excavated the nests of A. cephalotes did not found cockroaches out of the anthills. We collected all lifecycle stages of At. paucisetosa (ootheca, nymphs, male and female adults) inside of fungus chambers of the leafcutter ants’ nests. In lab, we observed that At. paucisetosa recognized artificial trails of A. cephalotes as well as worker ants. Our results show that At. paucisetosa is recognized by A. cephalotes workers as an intruder, triggering aggressive behavior, but the aggressiveness reduced in the presence of the ants’ fungus. Also, the cockroach may use foraging trails and its attachment abilities to ride on foraging ant, facilitating the entrance to the stablished colonies, but the cockroach must take risks (from being mutilated or killed) since it is recognized as an intruder, so it takes advantage of its small size to try to find refuge in the fungus crevices, taking recognition profile hydrocarbons from the ants.

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Data Availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Elsy Alvear and Sayra Mina for their support in collecting and maintaining ant colonies, and Cristian Roman Palacios for his comments and technical support in statistical analysis. In addition, the authors thank GEAHNA (Grupo de Investigaciones de Ecología de Agrosistemas y Hábitats Naturales) for providing laboratory facilities, and Dr. Horst Bohn, Germany for identifying of the roach species. Special thanks to Professor William Eberhard for his valuable comments.

Funding

This study did not receive any founding resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación Biología, Ecología y Evolución de Artrópodos, Department of Biology, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, Carrera 100 No. 13-00, Cali, Colombia

    Bryan Ospina-Jara

  2. Department of Entomology and Acarology, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, University of São Paulo (ESALQ-USP), Av. Pádua Dias, 11, C.P. 9, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Jonathan Rodríguez

  3. Grupo de Investigación en Ecología de Agroecosistemas y Department of Biology, Hábitats Naturales GEAHNA, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, Carrera 100 No. 13-00, Cali, Colombia

    Jonathan Rodríguez & James Montoya-Lerma

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  1. Bryan Ospina-Jara
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  3. James Montoya-Lerma
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Contributions

BOJ and JR conceived the idea and designed the study. BOJ and JR collected the nest samples. BOJ performed the experiments, analyzed the recordings, took the pictures, and provided the first draft. BOJ, JR, and JML wrote and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bryan Ospina-Jara.

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Compliance with Ethical Standards

No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study because experimental work was conducted with an unregulated invertebrate species. The study was carried out under the collection permit granted by the environmental licensing authority (ANLA) to the Universidad del Valle (Resolution 1070 issued on August 28, 2015).

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Ospina-Jara, B., Rodríguez, J. & Montoya-Lerma, J. Intruders in the Nest: Interaction of Attaphila paucisetosa (Blattodea: Blaberoidea) with Atta cephalotes Workers (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Insect Behav 35, 1–10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-022-09794-4

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