Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When.PDFVIP

RESEARCH ARTICLE Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls Tomer J. Czaczkes *, Jürgen Heinze, Joachim Ruther Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany * tomer.czaczkes@biologie.uni-regensburg.de Abstract Sanitary behaviour is an important, but seldom studied, aspect of social living. Social in- sects have developed several strategies for dealing with waste and faecal matter, including dumping waste outside the nest and forming specialised waste-storage chambers. In some cases waste material and faeces are put to use, either as a construction material or as a long-lasting signal, suggesting that faeces and waste may not always be dangerous. Here we examine a previously undescribed behaviour in ants – the formation of well-defined fae- cal patches. Lasius niger ants were housed in plaster nests and provided with coloured su- OPEN ACCESS crose solution. After two months, 1–4 well defined dark patches, the colour of the sucrose Citation: Czaczkes TJ, Heinze J, Ruther J (2015) solution, formed within each of the plaster nests. These patches never contained other Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0118376. doi:10.1371/jour