1985] 
Moffett — Behavioral notes on Acanthomyrmex 
167 
Field Notes 
Acanthomyrmex notabilis. A colony of A. notabilis (F. Smith) 
was discovered at an elevation of about 200 m in primary rain forest 
at the Tangkoko-Batuangus Reserve in Northern Sulawesi. The 
entrance to the nest was a simple, unadorned opening near one end 
of a 15 cm diameter log. Minors foraged on the mossy surface of the 
log and in the leaf litter at its side. All foragers located during two 
"hours of behavioral observations were within 40 cm of the nest; no 
more than three ants were seen foraging at any one time. 
The log was dissected with a machete. The wood was hard and in 
good condition. The nest entrance led into a single passageway, 6 
cm long and 4 mm in diameter with smooth, hard walls. This was 
apparently a natural channel, modified little if at all by the ants. The 
colony contained three majors, 37 minors, and numbers of eggs, 
larvae, and pupae. Unfortunately no queen was found. If the ner- 
vous behavior of the A.ferox queen described in the next section is 
typical of the genus, it is likely the A. notabilis queen escaped while I 
chopped free the end of the log with the colony. However, few if any 
workers probably escaped, as no workers were observed even to 
approach the entrance during this time. 
The captive ants were placed in a 8.5 X 13.5 X 3.5 cm high plastic 
box with a transparent lid and compacted soil substrate. The ants 
clustered together on the substrate, with the majors at the periphery 
of the cluster. Later the ants moved into a test tube with stoppered 
water supply. Before this emigration occurred, one to four minors 
usually foraged at any given time, but after the emigration no ants 
were observed to depart from the tube to forage. 
Acanthomyrmex ferox. I collected A. ferox Emery workers in 
rain forest at Pleihari-Martipura Reserve Forest in Central Kali- 
mantan, Indonesia. I found foragers in the same area on two subse- 
quent afternoons. These foragers moved largely on top of leaf litter, 
perhaps in this way avoiding the many relatively aggressive Lopho- 
myrmex and Pheidologeton ants on the ground below. 
A group of workers and males with a dealate queen was eventu- 
ally located by following ants that carried sugar grains or sesame 
seeds from baits I had set out. The ants were clustered together 
between two small leaf fragments suspended above ground level 
within loose leaf litter. The ants and males were lined up side by 
