The little fire ant (LFA), Wasmannia auropunctata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is native to the neotropics, but has become one of the world’s most widespread and destructive invasive ants. In Hawaii, LFA was first discovered in 1999 on the Big Island and since then has rapidly spread to neighboring islands, causing ecological and economic damage. LFA can develop fully functional nests on the ground and arboreally, and their foraging and retrieval of food resources is facilitated by a well-developed recruitment system. LFA were found to form recruitment trails on epiphytic moss growing on macadamia nut trees. As a first step to identify LFA recruitment pheromone components, we tested the LFA worker trail-following response to naturally marked epiphytic moss trails. Significantly more LFA workers placed on a natural trail followed the trail and made 90° turns to continue following the trail compared to when they were placed on a fake trail that had no trail marking substance(s). In laboratory choice assays using hexane extracts of moss with and without LFA trail, LFA workers preferred to follow a trail drawn with a hexane extract of moss that had a recruitment trail over a trail drawn with a hexane extract of moss only. Our results confirm that LFA workers readily follow a trail marking substance(s) laid down on epiphytic moss.

中文翻译：

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小火蚁，Wasmannia auropunctata（膜翅目：蚁科）对附着在附生苔藓上的尾迹化学物质的行为反应

小火蚁（LFA）Wasmannia auropunctata（膜翅目：蚁科）原产于新热带地区，但已成为世界上分布最广、最具破坏性的入侵蚂蚁之一。在夏威夷，LFA 于 1999 年在大岛上首次被发现，此后迅速蔓延到邻近岛屿，造成生态和经济破坏。LFA可以在地面和树上开发功能齐全的巢穴，并通过完善的招募系统促进它们的觅食和食物资源的获取。发现 LFA 在澳洲坚果树上生长的附生苔藓上形成补充路径。作为识别 LFA 招募信息素成分的第一步，我们测试了 LFA 工人对自然标记的附生苔藓痕迹的跟踪反应。与放置在没有痕迹标记物质的假路径上相比，放置在自然路径上的 LFA 工人明显更多地跟随路径并进行 90° 转弯以继续跟随路径。在使用有和没有 LFA 痕迹的苔藓己烷提取物的实验室选择测定中，LFA 工作人员更喜欢跟踪用苔藓己烷提取物绘制的痕迹，该痕迹比仅用苔藓的己烷提取物绘制的痕迹具有补充痕迹。我们的结果证实，LFA 工人很容易跟踪附着在附生苔藓上的痕迹标记物质。LFA 工作人员更喜欢遵循用苔藓己烷提取物绘制的轨迹，该轨迹比仅用苔藓己烷提取物绘制的轨迹具有补充轨迹。我们的结果证实，LFA 工人很容易跟踪附着在附生苔藓上的痕迹标记物质。LFA 工作人员更喜欢遵循用苔藓己烷提取物绘制的轨迹，该轨迹比仅用苔藓己烷提取物绘制的轨迹具有补充轨迹。我们的结果证实，LFA 工人很容易跟踪附着在附生苔藓上的痕迹标记物质。