352 
Psyche 
[December 
be merely a reflection of the polymorphic proportions of the colony 
population. 
While the removal of Anomma workers from the column is per-' 
formed by individual O. longinoda workers, the immobilization of 
prey is the result of group action. O. longinoda workers surround 
the initial foraging worker and its Anomma captive and bite and 
grasp the Anomma worker extremities, and at the same time begin 
pulling (Fig. i). Additional O. longinoda workers are recruited 
to this task, perhaps by the secretion of alarm substances. The 
mandibles, legs, antennae and parts of the alitrunk, petiole, and 
gaster are grasped (Fig. i). Anywhere from 5 to 20 O. longinoda 
workers arrange themselves around the Amomma worker. In all 
cases, regardless of Anomma worker size, captured workers were 
incapable of mounting an adequate defense and were unable to bite 
their captors (i.e. they are unable to reach the O. longinoda worker 
because of their position in its mandibles). 
The Anomma worker is immobilized through prolonged stretch- 
ing, and this method of prey immobilization is common in Oecophyl- 
la (Gressitt, 1956; Ledoux, 1950; Vanderplank, i960; Way, 1954; 
Weber, 1949). The stretching of prey, spread-eagle fashion, may 
be common to predaceous ants whose mandibles, perhaps in combina- 
tion with their stings, are not efficacious, at least at the individual 
level, in quickly killing or immobilizing prey. For instance, New 
World doryline ■swarm raiders, such as Eciton burchelli (Westwood) 
and Labidus coecus (Latreille) stretch their large prey until it is 
torn to pieces (Schneirla, 1971). In this case, not only does the 
stretching serve to kill the prey but to subdivide it as well, thus ■ 
facilitating the transport of the prey back to the bivouac. The O. 
longinoda mandibles do not appear to pierce the integument of the 
Anomma workers, although Way (1954) notes that the soft cuticle f 
of limb and abdominal joints of prey is sometimes breached. He 
further reports that the O. longinoda workers sometimes curl their 
gasters dorsally and spray “poison” on these wounds. 
After the Anomma worker is immobilized, it is usually carried 
by one or two Oeoophylla workers to their arboreal nest. If the 
Anomma worker is not completely immobilized, more than 2 workers 
may cooperate in carrying it to the nest. In one observation, the 
Anomma worker was pulled at and stretched for 20 minutes, re- 
sulting in almost complete immobilization. Four O. longinoda workers 
then proceeded to carry the worker up a tree trunk, 1 graspingf‘the 
Anomma mandible, 1 an antenna and 1 each the metathoracic legs. 
The Anom?na worker occasionally moved its legs, catching its tarsal 
