Revista Brasileira de Entomologia https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2020-0019

Supplementary Material to “Flower perianth: first observations on a novel diet item for the ponerine

Odontomachus chelifer (Latreille)”

Appendix 1: List of previous studies presenting relevant information on ant species foraging for or carrying flower perianth parts (petals, sepals, or tepals) to their nests. References on the use of flowers by fungus-growing (subtribe Attina) were not included, since plant parts (including flowers) are commonly used for fungus-growing.

Ant species (subfamily) Plant species Flower perianth use Study site/ Vegetation type Reference Camponotus modoc Rhododendron Workers were observed clipping off petals from Western Cascade Range of Oregon, US; Weiser, (Wheeler) (Formicinae) macrophyllum (Hook) flowers. Typically, a single individual per flower cut temperate mountain forest 2002 (Ericaceae) around the base of the petals, clipping off the entire corolla. The remaining flower had very little or no petal at all. Ants remained on the flower head after removing the corolla and appeared to collect nectar from the base of the flower Cataglyphis floricola (Tinaut) (Formicinae) Halimium halimifolium Already fallen whole petals are a great part of ants’ Reserva Biológica de Doñana, SW Cerdá et (L.) Willk. (Cistaceae) diet during summer. Petals did not contain nectar or Spain; coastal sclerophyllous woodland al., 1992, pollen, nor were used for fungus-growing. Larvae on sandy soil 1996 and workers fed directly on petals, chewing them, probably to extract sugar and/or aminoacids. According to two-choice tests, ants preferred in 60% of cases to carry the petals instead of corpses. Moreover, when offered two types of petals, ants always preferred Halimium ones

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Revista Brasileira de Entomologia https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2020-0019

Ant species (subfamily) Plant species Flower perianth use Study site/ Vegetation type Reference Formica bradleyi (Wheeler) (Formicinae) Information not given. Plant parts were a substantial portion of the diet, Sheyenne Delta and Souris River Halverson Ants did not show a especially during spring. Workers continually Valley, North Dakota, US; on sandhills et al., 1976 particular preference for climbed on plants and searched for these items. any plant species. When an ant found a floral bud or small flower, it cut it off at the base and either carried it down the plant or dropped it to the ground where it was picked up by another worker. Flowers too large to transport or on peduncles too hard to cut were dissected into smaller portions and carried to the nest. Already fallen petals, when near the nest, were also gathered. Unused parts of flowers/floral buds were commonly found at the outer limits of the mound. Moreover, workers foraged on the nectar secreted by floral nectaries of several species (André) and N. albisetosus Information not given Both species are scavengers and forage primarily on Southern New Mexico, US; shrub-grass Whitford et (Mayr) () , but, during summer, plant parts were arid vegetation al., 1980 also present. Flowers (petals) constituted 11.3% and 3.6% of carried items by N. cockerelli and N. albisetosus, respectively Pachycondyla striata (Smith) (Ponerinae) Information not given The species is mainly carnivorous. In this study, Campinas, São Paulo State, Southeast Medeiros arthropods comprised the vast majority of its diet, Brazil; semideciduous Atlantic forest and whereas flowers accounted for less than 2% (from Oliveira, 132 items analyzed) 2009 Pheidole obscurithorax (Naves) (Myrmicinae) Information not given The species is omnivorous and collects a variety of Tallahassee, Florida State, US, where Storz and prey and, less frequently, plant material this South American species is invasive Tschinkel, such as flower petals 2004

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Revista Brasileira de Entomologia https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2020-0019

Ant species (subfamily) Plant species Flower perianth use Study site/ Vegetation type Reference Pogonomyrmex mayri (Forel) (Myrmicinae) Mainly one tree species, Workers collect large amounts of petals, mostly Tayrona National Park, Colombia; dry Kugler and probably Lonchocarpus sp. during the dry season (28% of the items brought to tropical forest Hincapie, (Fabaceae) the nest). These petals were then removed to the 1983 dump, without being masticated. Authors suspect that ants licked petals for dried nectar, if used at all; but the hypothesis was not tested Pogonomyrmex montanus (Mackay), P. Flowers of Penstemon spp. Pieces of leaves and flowers are taken to the nest by Southern California, US; three different MacKay, subnitidus (Emery) and P. rugosus (Emery) (Plantaginaceae; herb) and these species, especially by P. montanus (ca. 25% of altitudes/vegetations: P. montanus (pine 1981 (Myrmicinae) Arctostaphylos spp. all items carried) and P. subnitidus (ca. 12%). forest; 2,100 m a.s.l.), P. subnitidus (Ericaceae; shrub) Flowers are transported to the nest and placed (chaparral; 1500 m a.s.l.), and P. around the brood. Later intact flowers are discarded rugosus (coastal sage scrub; 300 m at nest surface. The author suggests that this a.s.l.) behavior (i.e., placing flower parts around the brood) may be intended to increase humidity; but the hypothesis was not tested Pogonomyrmex naegelii (Forel) (Myrmicinae) Information not given This ant has a generalist diet, comprised of many Southern State of Minas Gerais, Brazil; Belchior et seed species and arthropod prey (dead and alive), as Cerrado savanna al., 2012 well as pieces of plant and matter. Flowers and fruits accounted only for 16 out of 1,146 items brought to the studied nests Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger) (Myrmicinae) Information not given This invasive ant presents a very generalist diet. In Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Clark et al., this study, it included plant parts (seeds, leaves, Archipelago, Ecuador, where this South 1982 flowers, stems) as a non-negligible portion of its diet American species is invasive; varying during the hot season (46% of the collected items vegetation types from arid scrub to wet against 6% in the cold season) montane forests

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Revista Brasileira de Entomologia https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2020-0019

Ant species (subfamily) Plant species Flower perianth use Study site/ Vegetation type Reference Mainly small species of ants of three genera: Diaspores (i.e., already Ants were the main dispersal agent. When Sydney Region, SE Australia; Auld, 2009 Iridomyrmex (Dolichoderinae), Crematogaster fallen, one-seeded fruits encountering a diaspore, ants either tried to drag off understory of Eucalyptus woodlands and Pheidole (both Myrmicinae) with petals still attached) of the whole fruit by the old petal parts or simply bit (open) and forest (closed) three Darwinia species: D. off small pieces of the old petal parts (in cases fascicularis ssp. where the ants were too small to drag the fruit fascicularis, D. away). Occasionally, ants also removed the style or glaucophylla, and D. used it as a handle to move seeds (contrary to petals, procera styles were not always present attached to fallen (Myrtaceae) diaspores). The fate of fruits or petals removed by ants was not followed. The reason for petals being attractive to ants was not surveyed

References

Auld, T.D., 2009. Petals may act as a reward: myrmecochory in shrubby Darwinia species of south-eastern Australia. Austral Ecol. 34, 351-356.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.01937.x

Belchior, C., Del-Claro, K., Oliveira, P.S., 2012. Seasonal patterns in the foraging ecology of the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex naegelii

(Formicidae, Myrmicinae) in a Neotropical savanna: daily rhythms, shifts in granivory and carnivory, and home range. Arthropod-Plant

Interact. 6, 571-582. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-012-9208-1

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Cerdá, X., Retana, J., Carpintero, S., Cros, S., 1992. Petals as the main resource collected by the ant Cataglyphis floricola (:

Formicidae). Sociobiology 20, 315-320.

Cerdá, X., Retana, J., Carpintero, S., Cros, S., 1996. An unusual ant diet: Cataglyphis floricola feeding on petals. Insectes Soc. 43, 101-104.

https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01253960

Clark, D.B., Guayasamin, C., Pazmino, O., Donoso, C., de Villacis, Y.P., 1982. The tramp ant Wasmannia auropunctata: autecology and effects

on ant diversity and distribution on Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. Biotropica 14, 196-207. https://doi.org/10.2307/2388026

Halverson, D.D., Wheeler, J., Wheeler, G.C., 1976. Natural History of the Sandhill Ant, Formica bradleyi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Kans.

Entomol. Soc. 49, 280-303.

Kugler, C., Hincapie, M. del C., 1983. Ecology of the ant Pogonomyrmex mayri: distribution, abundance, nest structure, and diet. Biotropica 15,

190-198. https://doi.org/10.2307/2387828

MacKay, W.P., 1981. A comparison of the nest phenologies of three species of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Psyche 88, 25-74.

Medeiros, F.N.S., Oliveira, P.S., 2009. Season-Dependent Foraging Patterns: Case Study of a Neotropical Forest-Dwelling Ant (Pachycondyla

striata; Ponerinae), in: Jarau, S., Hrncir, M. (Eds.), Food Exploitation by Social : Ecological, Behavioral, and Theoretical Approaches.

Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, pp 81-95.

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Storz, S.R., Tschinkel, W.R., 2004. Distribution, spread, and ecological associations of the introduced ant Pheidole obscurithorax in the

southeastern United States. J. Insect. Sci. 4, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/4.1.12

Weiser, W.D., 2002. Removal of Rhododendron macrophyllum petals by Camponotus modoc. West. N. Am. Nat. 62, 498-499.

Whitford, W.G., Depree, E., Johnson, P., 1980. Foraging ecology of two chihuahuan desert ant species: Novomessor cockereli and Novomessor albisetosus. Insectes Soc. 27, 148-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229250

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