Territoriality in the Malaysian giants ant Camponotus gigas (Hymenoptera/Formicidae)

In a 5-ha area of primary lowland rain forest in Borneo, we observed four p olydomous colonies of the night-active giant ant Camponotus gigas. The nono verlapping, three-dimensional territories in the canopy had a ground size u p to 0.8 ha. C. gigas showed a distinct territorial behavior: (1) specific "barrack" nests, especially containing many majors, were situated at the bo rders and were established during long-term territorial conflicts; (2) trun k trails were regularly patrolled by majors that attacked alien conspecific s and some other ant species violently; and (3) sentinels, often involved i n long-enduring conflicts with neighboring ant colonies, defended the borde rs at bridgeheads. Interspecific conflicts with sympatric Camponotus, speci es always led to violent, "bloody" fights of all castes. Intraspecific conf licts, however, were solved by ritual fights ("front leg boxing") of majors . C gigas performed a de-escalation strategy to end short periods of true i ntraspecific "ant war" that we provoked experimentally. Artificially induce d ritualized combats continued over weeks also in the absence of baits, ind icating that borders may become established by long-term conflicts of attri tion. We discuss the differences between ritual fights in desert and rainfo rest ants and apply Lanchester's theory of battles to our findings.