Dispersal of Attaphila fungicola, a symbiotic cockroach of leaf-cutter ants

• Published in: Insectes sociaux Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 277 - 284
• Main Authors: Phillips, Z. I., Zhang, M. M., Mueller, U. G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-05-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ants; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chambers; Cockroaches; Containers; Dispersion; Entomology; Females; Fungi; Life Sciences; Mycology; Myrmecophily; Research Article; Symbiosis; Inquiline; Phoretic; Myrmecophile; Dispersal; Social parasitism
• ISSN: 0020-1812; 1420-9098
• DOI: 10.1007/s00040-016-0535-6

The myrmecophile cockroach
Attaphila fungicola
lives in the nests of leaf-cutter ants (
Atta texana
and
A. cephalotes
) and uses the female winged reproductives (i.e., female alates) of its host as vectors for the first phase of its dispersal. It is unknown whether
A. fungicola
remain with vectoring
A. texana
females after mating flights and throughout
A. texana
nest founding and subsequent colony development, or if the symbiotic cockroaches disperse to established 
A. texana 
colonies, either on their own or while still attached to vectoring
A. texana
females. We captured
A. fungicola
attached to
A. texana
female alates as they prepared for mating flights and measured their survivorship in artificial brood chambers with de-alate, recently mated
A. texana
queens and their incipient gardens, and in a non-natal established fungal garden tended by
A. texana
workers. After 13 days, 100% of
A. fungicola
had died in brood chambers with queens, while 100% of
A. fungicola
remained alive in the fungal garden chamber. We tested the feasibility of alternative modes of dispersal to established colonies by placing
A. fungicola
attached and unattached to vectoring female alates in the proximity of an established
A. texana
colony directly after a mating flight, and recorded whether
A. fungicola
entered the non-natal nest. A significantly higher proportion of
A. fungicola
attached to vectoring alates entered the nest compared to unattached
A. fungicola
. We also placed
A. fungicola
attached to vectoring alates in a foraging chamber of a laboratory colony to determine if, once in the nest,
A. fungicola
could navigate to the fungal garden chamber; 100% of
A. fungicola
detached from their vectoring alates and entered the fungal garden chamber. We tested alate preference of
A. fungicola
by placing
A. fungicola
separately in containers with one
A. texana
female alate and one male alate; after 2 h, 71% of
A. fungicola
were attached to female alates and 0% to male alates. Finally, we report the first record of a male
A. fungicola
collected during a mating flight of
A. texana
. These observations accumulated from field and laboratory studies suggest that
A. fungicola
vectored by
A. texana
female alates may not remain with foundresses, but instead disperse between established colonies through one or more alternative mechanisms. This study helps elucidate a tripartite ant-fungus-cockroach interaction, and provides a foundation for future research on
Attaphila
dispersal and reproductive biology.