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Brief Communications

Nature 434, 973 (21 April 2005) | doi:10.1038/434973a; Published online 20 April 2005

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Insect behaviour:  Arboreal ants build traps to capture prey

Alain Dejean1, Pascal Jean Solano1, Julien Ayroles2, Bruno Corbara3 & Jérôme Orivel1

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Tiny ants construct an elaborate ambush to immobilize and kill much larger insects.

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To meet their need for nitrogen in the restricted foraging environment provided by their host plants, some arboreal ants deploy group ambush tactics in order to capture flying and jumping prey that might otherwise escape1, 2, 3, 4. Here we show that the ant Allomerus decemarticulatus uses hair from the host plant's stem, which it cuts and binds together with a purpose-grown fungal mycelium, to build a spongy 'galleried' platform for trapping much larger insects. Ants beneath the platform reach through the holes and immobilize the prey, which is then stretched, transported and carved up by a swarm of nestmates. To our knowledge, the collective creation of a trap as a predatory strategy has not been described before in ants.