Marking unrewarding routes: pharaoh ant

1 of 1 Pharoah ant / Max E. Badgl.. / License

Foraging members of Pharaoh ant colonies guide fellow foragers away from unrewarding routes via a repellent pheromone.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Maintain community >
	Coordinate >
	Groups (self-organize)

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Pest control strategies that direct pests away from crops or kitchens.

[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Forager ants lay attractive trail pheromones to guide nestmates to food^{1, 2} but the effectiveness of foraging networks might be improved if pheromones could also be used to repel foragers from unrewarding routes^{3, 4}. Here we present empirical evidence for such a negative trail pheromone, deployed by Pharaoh's ants (Monomorium pharaonis) as a 'no entry' signal to mark an unrewarding foraging path. This finding constitutes another example of the sophisticated control mechanisms used in self-organized ant colonies." (Robinson et al. 2005:442)

View the animation from high school students as they use this concept to solve a design challenge for the Autodesk Design Competition.

About the inspiring organism

pharaoh ant
Monomorium pharaonis (Linnaeus, 1758)
[Pharaoh ant]

Some organism data provided by: ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Pest control strategies that direct pests away from crops or kitchens.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Agriculture, pest control

Experts

Computational Systems Biology and Apiculture and Social Insects Laboratory
Francis Ratnieks
University of Sheffield

References

Robinson, Elva J. H.; Jackson, Duncan E.; Holcombe, Mike; Ratnieks, Francis L. W. 2005. Insect communication: /`No entry/' signal in ant foraging. Nature. 438(7067): 442-442.

Marking unrewarding routes: pharaoh ant

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