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[Vol. 95 
often exhibited a vigorous shaking behavior when encountering 
nestmates. This seemed to stimulate the nest mate to follow the trail. 
The shaking behavior was especially strong and persistent when 
recruiting workers encountered the queen. Often 3 to 6 workers 
approached the queen simultaneously, alternately gnawing with 
their mandibles on her cuticle or vigorously shaking their bodies 
toward the queen. This behavior was primarily aimed at the queen’s 
gaster as if the workers were attempting to push the queen forward. 
At the beginning the queen moved very haphazardly, but once she 
contacted the trail, she walked straight to the nest. There was no 
pulling or dragging behavior, but occasionally I observed adult 
transport in the typical myrmicine mode, with the carried ant curled 
over the back of the carrier. The carried ant assumes the “pupal” 
position, with antennae and legs tightly folded to the body. Mera- 
noplus workers often take this same position when mechanically 
disturbed. In addition I have seen them inside the nest in this posi- 
tion, lying on their sides as if they were sleeping. 
Once the colony had settled inside the new nest I replaced the 
paper cover of the arena floor and offered honey water in the arena 
in approximately 15 cm distance from the nest entrance. As soon as 
the first forager discovered the food source it imbibed the liquid and 
returned to the nest. In order to observe the colony inside the nest I 
removed the aluminum foil cover from the nest tube. The ants did 
not show any sign of disturbance. The returning scout exhibited a 
vigorous shaking behavior .when encountering nestmates. This 
behavior did not noticeably differ from that performed during col- 
ony movement. The scout engaged in frequent oral trophallactic 
exchanges, sometimes with 2 to 3 nestmates simultaneously. This 
behavior was frequently interrupted by renewed shaking behavior. 
When the scout finally left the nest again to return to the food 
source, it repeatedly dragged its abdominal tip on the ground for 
short intervals. The scout was usually followed by 5-15 ants (Fig. 
2b). When encountering nestmates in the arena, the scout also dis- 
played the shaking which clearly appeared to stimulate the nest- 
mates to follow along the trail to the food source. Occasionally I 
even observed recruiters moving repeatedly back and forth on the 
trail without even entering the nest, vigorously shaking their bodies 
whenever they encountered nestmates. This behavior resulted in a 
relatively quick establishment of a trail between food source and 
