ASIAN MYRMECOLOGY Volume 9, e009017, 2017 ISSN 1985-1944 | eISSN: 2462-2362 © Fuminori Ito, Bruno Gobin and Rosli Hashim DOI: 10.20362/am.009017 SHORT COMMUNICATION Harvesting fig seeds from bird feces by an Oriental myrmicine ant species, Acanthomyrmex ferox Emery, 1893 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Fuminori Ito1*, Bruno Gobin1, 2 and Rosli Hashim3 Address: 1Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Ikenobe, Miki 761-0795, Japan, 2Present address, PCS-Ornamental Plant Research, Schaessestraat 18, 9070 Destelbergen, Belgium 3Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, *Corresponding author’s email:
[email protected] Keywords: ants, Ficus, Foraging, Seed dispersal Nests of the Oriental endemic genus Acantho- in the forest, and along the forest edge, where myrmex often contain fig seeds (Moffet 1985). sunshine filtering through the foliage reached the This genus is well known for having remark- forest floor. In such microhabitats, minor workers ably dimorphic worker castes (Moffet 1986), walked on accumulated dead leaves, small dead and the soldiers have huge heads that appear twigs, ground, and leaves of lower vegetation. to be important for crushing fig seeds (Moffett Nests of this species, which are usually found in 1985; Bushinger & Maschwitz 1998). However, small dead twigs and in the accumulation of dead no direct observations of seed crushing behav- leaves, were also abundant in such microhabitats. ior by soldiers have been reported and, so far, In order to reveal the sources of fig seeds, seed-harvesting behavior has not been observed we carefully searched for workers of A. ferox on in nature. Acanthomyrmex ferox Emery, 1893 is the trunks of 20 fig trees, and on and around sev- one of the most common and widespread species eral decayed fig fruits fallen on the forest floor.