IMPRINTING EFFECTS ON HOST-SELECTION BEHAVIOR OF SLAVE-RAIDING CHALEPOXENUS-MUELLERIANUS (FINZI) WORKERS (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE)

Early experience is known to influence brood care behavior and to indu ce nesting preferences of several ant species. Scanty information is a vailable with respect to imprinting effects on host selection of dulot ic ants. In this paper we investigate host choice behavior of workers of the slave-making ant, Chalepoxenus muellerianus. As in a correspond ing paper (SCHUMANN and BUSCHINGER 1994) on host specificity of C. mue llerianus young queens during colony foundation, we demonstrate that a blend of innate factors and effects of early experience also influenc es host species selection of slave-raiding workers.