140 
Psyche 
[Vol. 95 
Material and Methods 
The work was conducted in the laboratories of the Division of 
Entomology of CSIRO in Canberra, Australia, during a research 
year in 1980. Colonies of Meranoplus were collected near Canberra 
(ACT), near Poochera, South Australia, and near Lake Eacham 
and Eungella, Queensland. A total of seven species were investi- 
gated. They are listed in table 1 with my acquisition number and the 
species number of the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)/ 
(assigned by R. W. Taylor), where voucher specimens have been 
deposited. 
Colonies or groups of workers with brood have been housed in 
moist gypsum nests, or in test tubes containing water held in by a 
cotton plug, and fed honeywater, freshly killed cockroaches and a 
specially prepared diet (Bhatkar and Whitcomb, 1970). The nest of 
each colony was placed in plastic boxes (30 X 75 X 10 cm) which 
served as foraging arenas. 
Glandular dissections were performed in distilled water on ants 
killed by placing them for a few minutes in a freezer. Additional 
information concerning procedures will be given with the descrip- 
tion of the individual experiments. 
Results 
Recruitment to nests and food 
The most detailed results were obtained with Meranoplus sp. no. 
11. Two colonies of this species'were collected in the Corin Dam 
area, near Canberra. Each of the colonies had one queen, approxi- 
mately 200 workers and larvae. In addition, in the same area, I 
collected two queenless worker groups each containing approxi- 
Table 1. Species of Meranoplus investigated in this study. 
Species 
Acquisition 
number 
ANIC 
number 
Locality 
Meranoplus hirsutus 
135 
Near Lake Eacham, Qld 
177 
Eungella, Qld 
Meranoplus sp. 
32 
11 
Near Canberra, ACT 
Meranoplus sp. 
70 
11 
Near Canberra, ACT 
Meranoplus sp. 
150 
12 
Near Monga Forest, NSW 
Meranoplus sp. 
194 
13 
Near Poochera, SA 
Meranoplus sp. 
195 
14 
Near Poochera, SA 
Meranoplus sp. 
246 
15 
Near Canberra, ACT 
