Development of a chemically defined diet for ants
(2007) In Insectes Sociaux 54(1). p.100-104- Abstract
- A chemically defined diet is a useful tool for the study of nutritional physiology of organisms. We have developed such a diet for Camponotus carpenter ants to facilitate experiments on nutritional requirements of these ants. Worker colonies of Camponotus floridanus were fed with a chemically defined diet, containing all essential minerals, amino acids, vitamins, growth factors and sucrose in an agar matrix. After 13 weeks, neither the number of raised pupae, their dry weight, nor the mortality of workers in subcolonies fed with this diet differed significantly from control colonies fed with Bhatkar-Whitcomb-agar, in addition to cockroaches and diluted honey. Therefore, this diet is adequate for a normal brood production and a maximal... (More)
- A chemically defined diet is a useful tool for the study of nutritional physiology of organisms. We have developed such a diet for Camponotus carpenter ants to facilitate experiments on nutritional requirements of these ants. Worker colonies of Camponotus floridanus were fed with a chemically defined diet, containing all essential minerals, amino acids, vitamins, growth factors and sucrose in an agar matrix. After 13 weeks, neither the number of raised pupae, their dry weight, nor the mortality of workers in subcolonies fed with this diet differed significantly from control colonies fed with Bhatkar-Whitcomb-agar, in addition to cockroaches and diluted honey. Therefore, this diet is adequate for a normal brood production and a maximal growth rate of C. floridanus larvae, at least for a period of three months. This diet should be suitable for ants that are able to feed on agar-based food resources in general. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c2f27399-ee00-4225-bdfa-4c4d6a62bf4f
- author
- Straka, Josef LU and Feldhaar, Heike
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Artificial diet, holidic diet, Camponotus floridanus, nutritional physiology
- in
- Insectes Sociaux
- volume
- 54
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 100 - 104
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:33847623364
- ISSN
- 1420-9098
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00040-007-0910-4
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00040-007-0934-9
- id
- c2f27399-ee00-4225-bdfa-4c4d6a62bf4f
- date added to LUP
- 2016-10-24 16:11:51
- date last changed
- 2022-02-14 06:05:39
@article{c2f27399-ee00-4225-bdfa-4c4d6a62bf4f,
abstract = {{A chemically defined diet is a useful tool for the study of nutritional physiology of organisms. We have developed such a diet for Camponotus carpenter ants to facilitate experiments on nutritional requirements of these ants. Worker colonies of Camponotus floridanus were fed with a chemically defined diet, containing all essential minerals, amino acids, vitamins, growth factors and sucrose in an agar matrix. After 13 weeks, neither the number of raised pupae, their dry weight, nor the mortality of workers in subcolonies fed with this diet differed significantly from control colonies fed with Bhatkar-Whitcomb-agar, in addition to cockroaches and diluted honey. Therefore, this diet is adequate for a normal brood production and a maximal growth rate of C. floridanus larvae, at least for a period of three months. This diet should be suitable for ants that are able to feed on agar-based food resources in general.}},
author = {{Straka, Josef and Feldhaar, Heike}},
issn = {{1420-9098}},
keywords = {{Artificial diet; holidic diet; Camponotus floridanus; nutritional physiology}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{100--104}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Insectes Sociaux}},
title = {{Development of a chemically defined diet for ants}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00040-007-0910-4}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00040-007-0910-4}},
volume = {{54}},
year = {{2007}},
}