RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FORAGING EFFICIENCY AND SIZE OF HEAD AND COMPONENT BRAIN AND SENSORY STRUCTURES IN RED WOOD ANT

The aim of this study was to investigate possible relationships within the worker population of a single red wood ant nest (Formica rufa), between measures of size and measures of terrestrial foraging efficiency. Significant correlations were found, for a sample of 45 workers from this nest, between efficiency of navigation through a complex maze, and the size of the head and of certain component nervous and sensory structures. The component structures were of two types: the external sensory receptor areas, and the calyces of the corpora pedunculata (mushroom bodies) of the brain. Correlations with efficiency for other size measures from brain structures and from a leg were not significant. Possible bases for the size-efficiency relationships were discussed, in terms of the factors known to influence size and foraging behavior in wood ants. © 1969.