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Nesting biology of the fungus growing ants Mycetarotes Emery (Attini, Formicidae)

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Summary.

Fungus-growing ants of the genus Mycetarotes are among the least studied in the tribe Attini. This report documents nest architecture and worker population numbers for 19 nests of M. parallelus and 5 nests of M. acutus, including the first such report for M. acutus. This new information is integrated with the scant biological information reported on Mycetarotes to date. The resulting picture of Mycetarotes life history, as well as the relative ease with which large numbers of nests can be collected and observed in the field, suggest that Mycetarotes (particularly M. parallelus) is an ideal model system for the study of coevolution of lower-attine ants and their cultivated fungi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C0930, Austin, TX, 78712-0253, USA

    S. E. Solomon & U. G. Mueller

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama

    U. G. Mueller & C. R. Currie

  3. National Museum of Natural History, MRC 188, Smithsonian Institution, POB 37012, Washington, D.C., 20013-7012, USA

    T. R. Schultz

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 2041 Haworth Hall, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7534, USA

    C. R. Currie & S. L. Price

  5. Centro de Estudos de Insetos Socais, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24-A, 1515, CEP 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil

    A. C. Oliveira da Silva-Pinhati & M. Bacci Jr.

  6. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, C.P. 593, 38400-902, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

    H. L. Vasconcelos

Authors
  1. S. E. Solomon
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  2. U. G. Mueller
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  3. T. R. Schultz
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  4. C. R. Currie
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  5. S. L. Price
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  6. A. C. Oliveira da Silva-Pinhati
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  7. M. Bacci Jr.
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  8. H. L. Vasconcelos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. E. Solomon.

Additional information

Received 30 June 2003; revised 17 December 2003; accepted 23 March 2004.

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Solomon, S.E., Mueller, U.G., Schultz, T.R. et al. Nesting biology of the fungus growing ants Mycetarotes Emery (Attini, Formicidae). Insect. Soc. 51, 333–338 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-004-0742-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-004-0742-4

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