PSYCHE 
Vol. 8 1 
June, 1974 
No. 2 
SOCIAL CARRYING BEHAVIOR 
AND DIVISION OF LABOR 
DURING NEST MOVING IN ANTS 
By Michael Moglich* and Bert Holldobler 
Biological Department, MCZ-Laboratories, 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 02138 
Social carrying behavior is one of the most remarkable social ac- 
tivities in ant societies. Not only eggs, larvae and pupae, but also 
adult workers, queens and males are frequently carried by worker 
ants to various target areas. Although carrying behavior has been 
observed in many ant species (see review in E. O. Wilson 1971), 
only a few analytical investigations have dealt with the biological 
significance of social carrying behavior in ants. Kneitz (1964) 
reports that in Formica polyctena special “storage workers” are 
passively moved between the summer nest and winter nest. Arnoldi 
(1932) observed that during the slave raids Rossomyrmex proformi- 
carum uses the carrying technique to recruit sister workers to the 
nest of the slave ants. In Camponotus herculeanus social carrying 
behavior serves as a “social timer” during the nuptial flight activi- 
ties: males that tend to take off too early or too late during the daily 
flight periods are carried back into the nest by their worker nestmates 
(Holldobler and Maschwitz 1964). 
Most frequently, however, carrying behavior is employed during 
emigration from one nest site to another. If a nest becomes too small 
and cannot be extended, or if the microclimatic conditions change, 
the colony searches for a better site. Although the communication 
signals used by different ant species to organize nest movings vary 
considerably, adult transport seems to be the basic recruitment tech- 
nique of most. 
^Present address: Fachbereich Biologie, Frankfurt, W. Germany. 
Manuscript received by the editor June 28, 1974. 
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