西北荒漠草原针毛收获蚁的筑巢行为

Nesting behavioral of seed harvester ant Messor aciculatus in the desert ecosystem of northwest China.

针毛收获蚁Messoraciculatus(F .Smith)是我国北方特别是西北荒漠草原的优势种蚂蚁 ,亦是重要的种子收获性蚁类 ,收获、贮藏和取食 1 0余种荒漠植物种子。自然巢穴深 80cm～ 1 3 7cm ,单一巢口 ,沿主隧道不同深度有水平延伸的各层巢室 ,巢室向四周的延伸范围随巢深减小 ,层间距拉大。自然巢穴的空间结构与社群越冬与种子的深层贮藏有着密切的关系。饲养社群筑巢行为由蚁后主导 ,起始营巢位点数与蚁后头数有关 ,每一蚁后带领 5 0～ 70头工蚁 ,营巢时程 0 5～ 0 67d 60工蚁 蚁后 ,蚁巢有多个巢口。自然与饲养社群的巢穴结构差异很大 ,但两者单一蚁后与工蚁所占的有效巢穴空间是基本一致的 ,自然社群 1 81 3 7cm3 蚁后 ,2 99cm3 工蚁 ,饲养社群 1 5 6 2 6cm3 蚁后 ,2 60cm3

Messor aciculatus (F. Smith) is a dominant seed harvester ant in the desert ecosystem of northwest China. It harvests more than 10 annual plant seeds. The spatial structure of nest in natural colony takes on the following chacteristics, 80 to 137 cm deep, one entrance and vertical main tunnel with horizontal layer of chambers. Expanding range of shallow layers is much broader than that of deeper ones and the distance between layers gets longer as tunnel getting deeper. Such special structure of natural nest is adapted to castes hibernation and seeds storage. Nesting behavior of reared colony shows that queen controlls the nesting starting sites and the worker individuals at each site; nesting duration is 0.5～0.67 day per queen and 60 workers. Although the spatial structure of nest between natural and reared colonies is significantly distinct, the total space shared by per queen and worker between two type of colonies is quite similar.