Non-injurious, collective ritualized displays may have evolved in some species of ants as a means of resolving contests for key resources, without causing a drain in worker numbers through injury. Colonies of the Australian meat ant, Iridomyrmex purpureus, deploy numerous workers to engage in collective displays, which are widely understood to be involved in maintaining exclusive territories. A combination of field surveys and behavioral assays revealed that display grounds do not delimit borders that define exclusive territories. Rather, the proportion of workers from a focal colony found in a quadrat declines monotonically with distance from the nest. In addition, we documented collective displays around food trees, where workers congregated in greater densities and engaged in more aggressive behavior. These results refute the assumption that colonies of I. purpureus establish territorial boundaries by collective displays. Rather these collective displays may be related to the defense of specific resources, including food trees and nest sites. The difference in the level of aggression among displaying workers at different locations may reflect a balance between the benefits of defending a particular resource and an unappreciated cost of escalation.

中文翻译：

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再次探讨了蚂蚁的地域性：标志性的集体展示反映了资源，而不是肉类蚂蚁Iridomyrmex purpureus的地域防御。

在某些种类的蚂蚁中，非伤害性的集体仪式化显示可能已经演变为解决关键资源争夺的一种方式，而不会由于伤害而导致工人人数减少。澳大利亚肉蚁Iridomyrmex purpureus的殖民地，请大量工人参加集体展示活动，人们普遍认为这涉及维护专属领土。实地调查和行为分析的结合表明，展示场地不会划定界定专属领土的边界。恰恰相反，在一个四边形中发现的一个焦点殖民地的工人比例随与巢的距离而单调下降。此外，我们记录了在食物树周围的集体展示，工人聚集在这里，密度更高，行为更加激进。这些结果驳斥了紫I菌落的假设。通过集体展示确定领土边界。而是这些集体展示可能与特定资源的防御有关，包括食物树和巢穴。展示工人在不同地点的侵略水平的差异可能反映了捍卫特定资源的利益与未意识到的升级成本之间的平衡。