- Within the fortress: A specialized parasite is not discriminated against in a social insect society, 23.02.2018 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193536
Emilia Solá Gracia, Charissa de Bekker, Ephraim M. Hanks, David P. Hughes
"... In our study, we use the behavior manipulating fungal pathogen, Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae (= unilateralis) and its host, Camponotus castaneus, to ask if colony members are able to detect infected individuals. Such detection would be optimal for the colony since infected workers die near foraging trails where the fungus develops its external structures and releases spores that infect other colony members.
To determine if C. castaneus workers can detect these future threats, we used continuous-time point observations coupled with longer continuous observations to discern any discrimination towards infected individuals.
After observing 1,240 hours of video footage we found that infected individuals are not removed from the colony and continuously received food during the course of fungal infection. We also calculated the distances between workers and the nest entrance in a total of 35,691 data points to find infected workers spent more time near the entrance of the nest.
Taken together, these results suggest healthy individuals do not detect the parasite inside their nestmates. The colony’s inability to detect infected individuals allows O. kimflemingiae to develop within the colony, while receiving food and protection from natural enemies, which could damage or kill its ant host before the parasite has completed its development."
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'Camponotus castaneus' in EntomoNews | Scoop.it
https://www.scoop.it/t/entomonews/?&tag=Camponotus+castaneus