COORDINATED GROUP AMBUSH - A NEW PREDATORY BEHAVIOR IN AZTECA ANTS (DOLICHODERINAE)

This article describes a new technique used by ants (Azteca cf. lanugi nosa) in the Brazilian Cerrado to capture large mobile insects. Large numbers of ants position themselves along a leaf margin in sit-and-wai t groups and ambush prey by simultaneously attacking insects that land on the upper surface of the leaf The workers are able to seize insect s such as beetles, bees, and butterflies, most of them being two times longer than the ants.