Author(s)

Yoshifumi Touyama, Fuminori Ito

Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Ikenobe, Japan.
Niho, Minami-ku, Hiroshima City, Japan.

Argentine ant invasion changed colour-polymorphic composition of ant-mimetic jumping spider Myrmarachne in southwestern Japan. In Argentine ant-free sites, most of Myrmarachne exhibited all-blackish colouration. In Argentine ant-infested sites, on the other hand, blackish morph decreased, and bicoloured (i.e. partly bright-coloured) morphs increased in dominance. Invasive Argentine ant drives away native blackish ants. Disappearance of blackish model ants supposedly led to malfunction of Batesian mimicry of Myrmarachne.

Batesian Mimicry, Biological Invasion, Linepithema humile, Myrmecomorphy, Myrmarachne, Polymorphism

Touyama, Y. and Ito, F. (2014) Argentine Ant Affects Ant-Mimetic Arthropods: Does Argentine Ant Invasion Conserve Colouring Variation of Myrmecomorphic Jumping Spider?. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 4, 144-151. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2014.43019.