Social immunity behaviour among ants infected by specialist and generalist fungi

Abstract

Social insects are distinguished by their lifestyle of living in groups with division of labour, cooperative brood care, and reproduction limited to a few colony members. Social insects often build large colonies with remarkable densities of highly related individuals and this can lead to an increased pathogen pressure. Our review focuses on interactions of ants with two important taxonomic groups of fungi infecting ants: Hypocreales (Ascomycota) and Entomophthorales (Entomophthoromycotina), and their different infection strategies, including host manipulation for optimal spore dispersal in the specialised ant pathogens. In social insects such as ants, resistance to pathogens is present at the colony level, with social immunity in addition to the individual resistance. We describe how ants use both organizational and behavioural defence strategies to combat fungal pathogens, with emphasis on highly specialised fungi from the genera Ophiocordyceps and Pandora.