Do ants execute traitors?

[CplFerro]

Do colony insects such as ants, termites, and bees ever betray their colonies in any way, such as by refusing to work, or by some other method? If so, are these nogoodniks executed by their countrymen?

 

[SPQR]

Every nature show I've ever seen on colony insects basically has said that the insects in question do not have a choice. Its instinctual. The welfare of the colony is their highest priority.

I've always thought of ant, termite, or bee colonies as being like the Borg Collective in Star Trek. Once you've met one ant, you've met them all.

 

[Axenos]

Did you ever see the movie "Phase IV" (1974)?

Don't know about traitors, but there was a great scene in which the ants are arranging their dead in neat, orderly rows...

Creepiest sci-fi movie I ever saw...

 

[Earthborn]

Do colony insects such as ants, termites, and bees ever betray their colonies in any way, such as by refusing to work, or by some other method?

If you consider "refusing to work" betrayal, then yes. These insects have largely anarchistic societies and each individual only does what he feels like doing, which means most of them just sit in the nest and do nothing most of the time. The 'busy bees' who do work quit whenever they feel like it. Collectively they get so much work done because they are with so many.

If so, are these nogoodniks executed by their countrymen?

No. Some maybe killed because they look or smell funny, but I don't think there is any evidence that insect colonies keep tab of what each individual has done and in any way punish those who fall short of any "production plan".

 

[Bronze Dog]

I don't think ants have the ability to recognize traitors. Or at least it seems limited. I recall a show featuring a spider or something that mimics a nest's scent so that he is perceived to be just another ant. Grabbed a larva and started dragging it off. One of the nest workers half-heartedly objected, letting it go when it recognized the scent as normal.

Of course, that's half a memory from a TV show. I'll defer to any antologists who stop by here.

 

[Doubt]

Did you ever see the movie "Phase IV" (1974)?

Don't know about traitors, but there was a great scene in which the ants are arranging their dead in neat, orderly rows...

Creepiest sci-fi movie I ever saw...

And a very dumb ending.

But interesting to watch until then.

 

[Dragonrock]

Did you ever see the movie "Phase IV" (1974)?

Don't know about traitors, but there was a great scene in which the ants are arranging their dead in neat, orderly rows...

Creepiest sci-fi movie I ever saw...

Yep, except it was filled with 70's magical nature stuff. And I'm still not quite sure what happened at the end.

 

[Unholy_Mackerel]

It ended with the creation of an ant/human hybrid "queen"-- by the ants, no less.

I waited for Phase V for years afterward.

Right -- dumb ending.

 

[Dragonrock]

It ended with the creation of an ant/human hybrid "queen"-- by the ants, no less.

I waited for Phase V for years afterward.

Right -- dumb ending.

I must have missed something, how did they explain that? All I saw were close ups of the actors superimposed over close ups of ants, cheesey 70's sci/fi music plays, then the "hero" and "heroine" were holding hands and we cut to the credits. Perhaps what I saw had been edited for content or perhaps the movie was made by hippies with drug-addled brains.

 

[CplFerro]

Dear Axenos,

Yes, I perceived that one long ago. It was quite good, and I don't remember objecting to the ending. 1974 stuck in my head as being quite a strange year for cinema, though I can't remember exactly why. There seemed to be a lot of strange SF around that time, just before "blockbuster" films became in vogue.

Cpl Ferro

 

[Mr. Scott]

Social insects may execute imposters

Do colony insects such as ants, termites, and bees ever betray their colonies in any way, such as by refusing to work, or by some other method? If so, are these nogoodniks executed by their countrymen?

I read about a case that's quite similar to that in social insects. Let's see if I can remember and describe it well...

It was a type of bee or wasp. Their heads were black with a yellow dot between the eyes. The higher the bee's rank, the larger the yellow dot. Somehow, this helped keep the colony organized.

But researchers decided to see what would happen if they changed the dot sizes on individual bees with a little yellow or black paint. When they did, the altered bees were attacked. It didn't matter if they raised the rank or lowered the rank. The idea that the bee's rank was misrepresented by their dots enraged other bees. (repainting the dots without changing their size had no effect)

My guess is that the dot evolved as shorthand to identify rank instantly. After the instant rank ID, the bee's behavior confirmed or refuted it, and if it failed to match, the bee was tormented. This had the effect of keeping the dots accurate, immediately by assasination and in the long term by selection.

Very easy to morph this to humans. Wouldn't you want to "go after" someone wearing the uniform of outside of their rank? Something like the scene in My Fair Lady where they try to pass off a lower class girl as royalty. Sometimes you can just tell by gut that someone pretending to be dominant is in fact submissive. That it follows with the bees in both directions is fascinating.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

You should think of ants as the entire colony and not each individual. The amount of power the queen has over the rest of the ants is so great that individuality is basically non-existant.



Sort of like N.Korea.

 

[malaka]

Their heads were black with a yellow dot between the eyes. The higher the bee's rank, the larger the yellow dot. Somehow, this helped keep the colony organized.

But researchers decided to see what would happen if they changed the dot sizes on individual bees with a little yellow or black paint.

Reminds me of the Plain and Star-bellied Sneetches.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Would an ant traitor be rewarded with a Swiss bank account?

Pretty much all of an ant's behaviour is hardwired in it's genetics. Since a worker is as closely related to her sisters as to the queen, she has a stronger genetic incentive to look after her sisters than she has to breed herself, assuming she could.

By betraying her colony, she betrays her own genes. Any such tendency would rapidly be bred out- if only by the destruction of the colony.

If by betray you mean simply not carrying her share of the work, I think Earthborn (post 4) answered that. The average worker does enough work to keep the colony alive, or not. If it's just the odd ant, it makes no difference. If the whole lot have the rebellious gene, you get East Germany, circa 1970.

 

[Earthborn]

Pretty much all of an ant's behaviour is hardwired in it's genetics.

Not quite.

she has a stronger genetic incentive to look after her sisters than she has to breed herself, assuming she could.

A rather peculiar concept of "incentive" are you using here. Usually it means a sensory stimulus rewarding or punishing an organism. You seem to suggest that what happens to an organism's genetic relatives generations later can be a reward of itself.

 

[ctw]

I read about a case that's quite similar to that in social insects. Let's see if I can remember and describe it well...

For those interested, the work was done by Elizabeth Tibbetts, and published in
Nature 432, pp218-222. You can access it from her University of Michigan website
(I'm not allowed to post links yet...). She's also done fascinating work on wasps recognising
individual other wasps by their face markings.

CTW

 

[Mr. Scott]

Wasps Enforcing the Social Contract

For those interested, the work was done by Elizabeth Tibbetts, and published in
Nature 432, pp218-222. You can access it from her University of Michigan website
(I'm not allowed to post links yet...). She's also done fascinating work on wasps recognising
individual other wasps by their face markings.

CTW

Thanks!

Google brought this up right away: Facial Quality Signal in a Wasp

 

[MWare]

I think you have to be more specific than just "ants". I was watching a documentary last weekend on the top 10 deadly species of ants in the world, and there was one (not sure which) that would actually fight amongst themselves under certain circumstances. I think that would qualify as treason in the ant world.

 

[Mr. Scott]

For those interested, the work was done by Elizabeth Tibbetts, and published in
Nature 432, pp218-222. You can access it from her University of Michigan website
(I'm not allowed to post links yet...). She's also done fascinating work on wasps recognising
individual other wasps by their face markings.

CTW

Elizabeth Tibbetts Web Site