Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T02:39:56.120Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of the Ant, Lasius niger (L.), on the Behaviour and Reproduction of the Black Bean Aphid, Aphis fabae Scop

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

C. J. Banks
C. J. Banks
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Cage experiments confirmed that, in the absence of natural enemies, populations of Aphis fabae Scop., attended on bean plants (Vicia faba) by the ant, Lasius niger (L.), multiply more rapidly than otherwise similar but ant-free populations. The average difference in numbers recorded, was about one-third, the maximum being 70 per cent. No doubling or trebling of aphid numbers as claimed by an earlier worker was ever recorded.

When the Aphids are attended by ants, their excretion behaviour alters and the normal dispersal of the apterae from the young apical growth of bean plants is considerably delayed.

No significant differences were found between the numbers of nymphs produced by individual Aphids from ant-visited and ant-free plants, respectively, living on leaves of the same age; but the numbers were significantly affected by the age of the leaf or part of the plant on which the Aphids had developed or were then feeding.

It is suggested that ant-attended aphid populations multiply more rapidly because most of the Aphids feed for a much longer time on young plant tissue where, presumably, their food supply is more nutritious.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 49 , Issue 4 , December 1958 , pp. 701 - 714
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1958

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Broadbent, L. (1951). Aphid excretion.—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond., (A) 26, pp. 97–103.Google Scholar
El-Ziady, S. & Kennedy, J. S. (1956). Beneficial effects of the Common Garden Ant, Lasius niger L., on the Black Bean Aphid, Aphis fabae Scopoli.—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond., (A) 31, pp. 61–65.Google Scholar
Flanders, S. E. (1951). The role of the ant in the biological control of Homopterous insects.—Canad. Ent., 83, pp. 93–98.Google Scholar
Herzig, J. (1937). Ameisen und Blattläuse. (Ein Beitrag zur Ökologie aphidophiler Ameisen.).—Z. angew. Ent., 24, pp. 367–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibbotson, A. & Kennedy, J. S. (1950). The distribution of Aphid infestation in relation to leaf age. II. The progress of Aphis fabae Scop, infestations on sugar beet in pots.—Ann. appl. Biol., 37, pp. 680–696.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. S. & Booth, C. O. (1954). Host alternation in Aphis fabae Scop. II. Changes in the Aphids.—Ann. appl. Biol., 41, pp. 88–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. S.Ibbotson, A. & Booth, C. O. (1950). The distribution of Aphid infestation in relation to leaf age. I. Myzus persicae (Sulz.) and Aphis fabae Scop, on spindle trees and sugar-beet plants.—Ann. appl. Biol., 37, pp. 651–679.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nixon, G. E. J. (1951). The association of ants with Aphids and Coccids.—36 pp. London, Commonw. Inst. Ent.Google Scholar
Smith, L. M. (1937). Growth, reproduction, feeding and wing development of the Mealy Plum Aphid in relation to climatic factors.—J. agric. Res., 54, pp. 345–364.Google Scholar
Waterhouse, D. F. & Day, M. F. (1953). Function of the gut in absorption, excretion, and intermediary metabolism.—In Roeder, K. D.Ed. Insect physiology, pp. 331–349. New York, Wiley; London, Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Way, M. J. (1954). Studies on the association of the ant Oecophylla longinoda (Latr.) (Formicidae) with the scale insect Saissetia zanzibarensis Williams (Coccidae).—Bull. ent. Res., 45, pp. 113–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar