ArticlePloS one2015
The Pied Piper: A Parasitic Beetle's Melodies Modulate Ant Behaviours.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Co-phylogeny and biogeography of the myrmecophilous beetle Paussus favieri (Carabidae, Paussinae) and its host ant Pheidole pallidula (Hymenoptera, Myrmicinae).Insect science · 2026Article
- Article
- Biotremological research using a DIY piezoelectric contact microphone - examples with insects.Biodiversity data journal · 2025Article
- Chemical and behavioural strategies along the spectrum of host specificity in ant-associated silverfish.BMC zoology · 2022Article
- A new ant-butterfly symbiosis in the forest canopy fills an evolutionary gap.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Multiple phenotypic traits as triggers of host attacks towards ant symbionts: body size, morphological gestalt, and chemical mimicry accuracy.Frontiers in zoology · 2021Article
- The Inquiline AntBiology · 2021Article
- Chemical Deception and Structural Adaptation in Microdon (Diptera, Syrphidae, Microdontinae), a Genus of Hoverflies Parasitic on Social Insects.Journal of chemical ecology · 2019Article
- Article
- Fine-tuned intruder discrimination favors ant parasitoidism.PloS one · 2019Article
- Chemical and behavioral integration of army ant-associated rove beetles - a comparison between specialists and generalists.Frontiers in zoology · 2018Article
- Arthropods Associate with their Red Wood ant Host without Matching Nestmate Recognition Cues.Journal of chemical ecology · 2017Article
- Rediscovery and reclassification of the dipteran taxon Nothomicrodon Wheeler, an exclusive endoparasitoid of gyne ant larvae.Scientific reports · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ants use various communication channels to regulate their social organisation. The main channel that drives almost all the ants' activities and behaviours is the chemical one, but it is long acknowledged that the acoustic channel also plays an important role. However, very little is known regarding exploitation of the acoustical channel by myrmecophile parasites to infiltrate the ant society. Among social parasites, the ant nest beetles (Paussus) are obligate myrmecophiles able to move throughout the colony at will and prey on the ants, surprisingly never eliciting aggression from the colonies. It has been recently postulated that stridulatory organs in Paussus might be evolved as an acoustic mechanism to interact with ants. Here, we survey the role of acoustic signals employed in the Paussus beetle-Pheidole ant system. Ants parasitised by Paussus beetles produce caste-specific stridulations. We found that Paussus can "speak" three different "languages", each similar to sounds produced by different ant castes (workers, soldiers, queen). Playback experiments were used to test how host ants respond to the sounds emitted by Paussus. Our data suggest that, by mimicking the stridulations of the queen, Paussus is able to dupe the workers of its host and to be treated as royalty. This is the first report of acoustic mimicry in a beetle parasite of ants.
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