Cleptobiosis
In cleptobiosis, one species builds its nests in close proximity to another
and feeds from its refuse piles or steals food from returning foragers of the
other species. Foragers of aCrematogasterspecies in India have been
observed to ‘lie in wait’ for returning foragers of aHolcomyrmexspecies
along the other species’ trails, to aggressively interact with the returning
foragers and to appropriate the food that they were carrying (cited in
Wheeler, 1910). This cleptobiotic behaviour is apparently an extremely
common and important foraging strategy for this species. In the southern
USA, workers ofConomyrma(=Dorymyrmex)pyramicadevote a con-
siderable portion of their foraging activities to collecting dead insects
discarded into kitchen middens byPogonomyrmexharvester-ant colonies
(Wilson, 1971).Lestobiosis
Small species of ants in particular taxonomic groups, most notably some
of the ‘thief ants’ of theSolenopsissubgenusDiplorhoptrum, exhibit what
is referred to as lestobiosis. These ants nest in the walls of the nests of
larger species of ants and termites, enter the nest chambers of the larger
species, steal food and prey on the brood (Wheeler, 1910; Wilson, 1971).
As remarked by Lubbock (1883: p. 79), ‘It is as if we had small dwarfs,
about eighteen inches to two feet long, harbouring in the walls of our
houses, and every now and then carrying off some of our children into
their horrid dens.’ The sharing of the nest is considered parasitic, whereas
consumption of the host brood is predatory (Hölldobler and Wilson,
1990).Parabiosis
Parabiosis refers to an association in which two or more species share a
common nest and sometimes use the same foraging trails, while keeping
their broods separate. Forel (1898) coined this term to refer to the nesting
association ofCrematogaster parabioticaand Dolichoderus debilis in
Colombia, and it also appears to apply to the nesting associations for a
variety of ant species nesting in epiphytes in Mexico (Wheeler, 1910) and
in arboreal ant gardens in French Guiana (Orivelet al., 1997). Although
there is potential in these relationships for true mutualism, it appears
that one species often dominates and exploits the other (Hölldobler and
Wilson, 1990).Xenobiosis
Xenobiosis is a much more highly evolved and specialized relationship
than those described above and is an obligatory form of social parasitism.
The typically diminutive parasite species lives in the walls or chambers of
the host species’ nest, moves freely among its hosts and obtains food from
them, usually by actively soliciting regurgitation (i.e. trophallaxis). None
the less, the two species are not closely related taxonomically and the
parasite tends its own brood and queen(s) (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990).Social Parasitism in Ants 319