caa a22 4500 605462410 CHVBK 20210128100248.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10211-014-0181-9 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10211-014-0181-9 What is the stimulus for the excavation of fungus chamber in leaf-cutting ants? [Elektronische Daten] [Roberto da Silva Camargo, Luiz Forti] This study investigated the stimulus for the excavation of fungus chamber by leaf-cutting ants (Atta sexdens rubropilosa) during nest building. Thus, it was hypothesized that the fungus garden or the brood is a stimulus for excavating the chamber. Therefore, four treatments were designed: treatment 1, fixed number of workers (30), without the fungus garden and brood; treatment 2, fixed number of workers (30), with fungus garden (average weight 1.5g) and without brood; treatment 3, fixed number of workers (30), without the fungus garden and with brood (30 larvae or pupae); and treatment 4, fixed number of workers (30), with fungus garden (average weight 1.5g) and brood items (30 larvae or pupae). The variables studied were (a) morphological structure parameters (size and thickness of tunnels and the chamber formed (in centimeters)), (b) workers' excavation flow, and (c) soil volume excavated every 24h. As expected, the results support the hypothesis that the fungus garden and brood are a stimulus for excavating the chamber. The hypothesis is confirmed by the absence of a functional structure, such as a chamber, when the symbiotic fungus and brood are absent. We can then conclude that the presence of the fungus garden and brood stimulate the workers to a greater excavation activity, resulting in functional structures such as tunnels and chamber. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and ISPA, 2014 Atta sexdens rubropilosa nationallicence Digging behavior nationallicence Leaf-cutting ants nationallicence Nest excavation nationallicence da Silva Camargo Roberto Laboratório de Insetos Sociais-Praga, Departamento de Produção Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, UNESP, PO Box 237, 18610-307, Botucatu, SP, Brazil aut Forti Luiz Laboratório de Insetos Sociais-Praga, Departamento de Produção Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, UNESP, PO Box 237, 18610-307, Botucatu, SP, Brazil aut acta ethologica Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/1(2015-02-01), 31-35 0873-9749 18:1<31 2015 18 10211 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-014-0181-9 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-014-0181-9 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- da Silva Camargo Roberto Laboratório de Insetos Sociais-Praga, Departamento de Produção Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, UNESP, PO Box 237, 18610-307, Botucatu, SP, Brazil aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Forti Luiz Laboratório de Insetos Sociais-Praga, Departamento de Produção Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, UNESP, PO Box 237, 18610-307, Botucatu, SP, Brazil aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- acta ethologica Springer Berlin Heidelberg 18/1(2015-02-01), 31-35 0873-9749 18:1<31 2015 18 10211