| inquiline roach responds to trail-marking substance of leaf-cutting ants. | nymphs and females of the roach inquiline, attaphila fungicola w. m. wheeler, respond to odor-trail substances of atta texana (buckley) and trachymyrmex septentrionalis (mccook). the ants are more sensitive than raoches to the pheromone. | 1964 | 17733069 |
| phylogeography of post-pleistocene population expansion in a fungus-gardening ant and its microbial mutualists. | although historical biogeographical forces, such as climate-driven range shifts, greatly influence the present-day population genetic structure of animals and plants, the extent to which they affect microbial communities remains largely unknown. we examined the effect of postglacial expansion on the population structure of the northern fungus-gardening ant trachymyrmex septentrionalis and compared it with that of its two microbial mutualists: a community of lepiotaceous fungal cultivars and asso ... | 2008 | 18986494 |
| ecology of microfungal communities in gardens of fungus-growing ants (hymenoptera: formicidae): a year-long survey of three species of attine ants in central texas. | we profiled the microfungal communities in gardens of fungus-growing ants to evaluate possible species-specific ant-microfungal associations and to assess the potential dependencies of microfungal diversity on ant foraging behavior. in a 1-year survey, we isolated microfungi from nests of cyphomyrmex wheeleri, trachymyrmex septentrionalis and atta texana in central texas. microfungal prevalence was higher in gardens of c. wheeleri (57%) than in the gardens of t. septentrionalis (46%) and a. texa ... | 2011 | 21671963 |
| microbiomes of ant castes implicate new microbial roles in the fungus-growing ant trachymyrmex septentrionalis. | fungus-growing ants employ several defenses against diseases, including disease-suppressing microbial biofilms on their integument and in fungal gardens. here, we compare the phenology of microbiomes in natural nests of the temperate fungus-growing ant trachymyrmex septentrionalis using culture-dependent isolations and culture-independent 16s-amplicon 454-sequencing. 454-sequencing revealed diverse actinobacteria associated with ants, including most prominently solirubrobacter (12.2-30.9% of seq ... | 2011 | 22355719 |
| effects of substrate, ant and fungal species on plant fiber degradation in a fungus-gardening ant symbiosis. | fungus-gardening or attine ants have outsourced most of their digestive function to a symbiotic fungus. the ants feed their fungus - essentially an external digestive organ - a variety of substrates of botanical origin, including fresh and dried flowers, leaves and insect frass (processed leaves). although plant tissues are rich in fibers (lignocelluloses, hemicelluloses, pectins and starches) and the symbiotic fungus possesses the genetic and enzymatic machinery to metabolize these compounds, t ... | 2017 | 28193479 |