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Insights into the microbial world associated with ants

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Abstract

Insects are among the most successful animals of the world in terms of species richness as well as abundance. Their biomass exceeds that of mammals by far. Among insects, ants are of particular interest not only because of their enormous ecological role in many terrestrial ecosystems, but also because they have developed an impressive behavioural repertoire. In fact, a key feature of the evolutionary success of ants is their ability to form complex societies with division of labour among individuals in a colony belonging to different castes such as workers and soldiers. In addition to these complex social interactions of ants, they have shown an extraordinary capacity to build up close associations with other organisms such as other insects, plants, fungi and bacteria. In the present review we attempt to provide an overview of the various symbiotic interactions that ants have developed with microorganisms.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dagmar Beier for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by the DFG priority programme SFB567(C/2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Evelyn Zientz, Sascha Stoll & Roy Gross

  2. Lehrstuhl für Soziobiologie und Verhaltensphysiologie, Biozentrum der Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Heike Feldhaar

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  1. Evelyn Zientz
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  4. Roy Gross
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Correspondence to Roy Gross.

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Zientz, E., Feldhaar, H., Stoll, S. et al. Insights into the microbial world associated with ants. Arch Microbiol 184, 199–206 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-005-0041-0

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