innate template for enemy recognition in red wood ants

The hypothesis of the innate template for perception and recognition of the enemy image in red wood ants Formica aquilonia Yarr. was tested by initiating conflicts between ants and predatory ground beetles, their competitors for space. Live beetles and their models with different characters were used. In nature, ants respond selectively to such features of competitors as dark coloration, the presence of “outgrowths” (legs, antennae), body symmetry, the rate of movement, and scent. Comparison of behavior of ants from natural colonies and “naive” (laboratory reared) ones showed that ants having no experience of encounters with competitors responded aggressively to an integral and sufficiently realistic enemy image. This suggests that red wood ants possess an innate template for recognition of potential competitors. At the same time, the ability to single out the key features and complete the integral image seems to require accumulation of experience.