---
_id: '2284'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: 'Background: The brood of ants and other social insects is highly susceptible
to pathogens, particularly those that penetrate the soft larval and pupal cuticle.
We here test whether the presence of a pupal cocoon, which occurs in some ant
species but not in others, affects the sanitary brood care and fungal infection
patterns after exposure to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. We
use a) a comparative approach analysing four species with either naked or cocooned
pupae and b) a within-species analysis of a single ant species, in which both
pupal types co-exist in the same colony. Results: We found that the presence of
a cocoon did not compromise fungal pathogen detection by the ants and that species
with cocooned pupae increased brood grooming after pathogen exposure. All tested
ant species further removed brood from their nests, which was predominantly expressed
towards larvae and naked pupae treated with the live fungal pathogen. In contrast,
cocooned pupae exposed to live fungus were not removed at higher rates than cocooned
pupae exposed to dead fungus or a sham control. Consistent with this, exposure
to the live fungus caused high numbers of infections and fungal outgrowth in larvae
and naked pupae, but not in cocooned pupae. Moreover, the ants consistently removed
the brood prior to fungal outgrowth, ensuring a clean brood chamber. Conclusion:
Our study suggests that the pupal cocoon has a protective effect against fungal
infection, causing an adaptive change in sanitary behaviours by the ants. It further
demonstrates that brood removal-originally described for honeybees as "hygienic
behaviour"-is a widespread sanitary behaviour in ants, which likely has important
implications on disease dynamics in social insect colonies.'
acknowledgement: "The study was funded by the European Research Council (Marie Curie
ERG 036569) and Marie Curie IEF 302204 to LVU\r\nCC BY 2.0\r\n"
article_number: '225'
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Simon
full_name: Tragust, Simon
id: 35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Tragust
- first_name: Line V
full_name: Ugelvig, Line V
id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Ugelvig
orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883
- first_name: Michel
full_name: Chapuisat, Michel
last_name: Chapuisat
- first_name: Jürgen
full_name: Heinze, Jürgen
last_name: Heinze
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. Pupal cocoons affect
sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. BMC Evolutionary
Biology. 2013;13(1). doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-225
apa: Tragust, S., Ugelvig, L. V., Chapuisat, M., Heinze, J., & Cremer, S. (2013).
Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies.
BMC Evolutionary Biology. BioMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225
chicago: Tragust, Simon, Line V Ugelvig, Michel Chapuisat, Jürgen Heinze, and Sylvia
Cremer. “Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections
in Ant Colonies.” BMC Evolutionary Biology. BioMed Central, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225.
ieee: S. Tragust, L. V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, and S. Cremer, “Pupal
cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies,”
BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol. 13, no. 1. BioMed Central, 2013.
ista: Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. 2013. Pupal cocoons
affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. BMC Evolutionary
Biology. 13(1), 225.
mla: Tragust, Simon, et al. “Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit
Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies.” BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol. 13,
no. 1, 225, BioMed Central, 2013, doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-225.
short: S. Tragust, L.V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, S. Cremer, BMC Evolutionary
Biology 13 (2013).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:56:46Z
date_published: 2013-10-14T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-09-29T14:24:13Z
day: '14'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-225
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
isi:
- '000326620500001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: c16ef36f2a10786a7885e19c4528d707
content_type: application/pdf
creator: system
date_created: 2018-12-12T10:13:41Z
date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:45:37Z
file_id: '5026'
file_name: IST-2016-402-v1+1_1471-2148-13-225.pdf
file_size: 281736
relation: main_file
file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:45:37Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 13'
isi: 1
issue: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
month: '10'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
project:
- _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: FP7
grant_number: '243071'
name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society
Effects'
- _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
grant_number: CR-118/3-1
name: Host-Parasite Coevolution
publication: BMC Evolutionary Biology
publication_status: published
publisher: BioMed Central
publist_id: '4647'
pubrep_id: '402'
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
record:
- id: '9753'
relation: research_data
status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant
colonies
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345
volume: 13
year: '2013'
...