Evidence of a thoracic crop in workers, soldiers, and queens of Carebara perpusilla ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae).

Autor: Khalife A; Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Ikenobe, Kagawa Prefecture, Miki, 761-0795, Japan. adam.khalife@kagawa-u.ac.jp., Billen J; Zoological Institute, University of Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium., Economo EP; Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Kunigami District, Okinawa, Japan.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Die Naturwissenschaften [Naturwissenschaften] 2023 Jul 18; Vol. 110 (4), pp. 36. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 18.
DOI: 10.1007/s00114-023-01866-5
Abstrakt: The ability to share and store food is paramount in group-living animals, allowing a finely tuned distribution of resources over time and individuals and an enhanced survival over periods of food scarcity. Ants have several ways to store food: one of them is their gastral crop, also known as a "social stomach." Nutrients in the crop can be regurgitated to nestmates through oral trophallaxis (mouth-to-mouth) or proceed to the midgut by opening the proventriculus, a valve connecting the crop to the midgut. However, some ants are also known to have a so-called "thoracic crop," an extension of the esophagus that allows for additional storage space. In this study, we provide the first evidence of a thoracic crop in the genus Carebara, in reproductive (queen) and sterile (soldier and worker) castes. We discuss how the ant body plan allowed for the evolution of a novel food storage structure in the mesothorax.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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