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Psyche 
[Vol. 87 
how many contexts single species may utilize stridulation. One 
exception is the work of Zhantiev and Sulkanov (1977), who found 
that certain Myrmica species would stridulate during immobiliza¬ 
tion, trophallaxis, fighting and eating insects. Nevertheless, the 
stridulatory signal itself is relatively simplistic and, according to 
Markl and Holldobler (1978), is probably not capable of containing 
more than one type of message. They have suggested that ant 
stridulation is a form of modulatory communication, and that the 
signal does not release any specific response, but merely modulates 
the responses of ants to other stimuli. 
In their work with Novomessor, Markl and Holldobler (1978) 
found that a stridulating worker did not transmit any detectable 
signal to the substrate through its legs. Apparently, other portions 
of the ant’s body had to be in contact with the substrate for effective 
transmission to occur. This discovery, if generally applicable to 
other ants, could be an important restriction on communication by 
stridulation. 
Leptothorax muscorum (Nylander) is a small (length = 2.1-3.8 
mm), common, circumboreal myrmicine ant (Brown, 1955; Ber 
nard, 1968). In North America, L. muscorum colonies normally 
consist of one or more queens, and less than 100 workers, and can 
be found nesting in rotting wood, under rocks and in other similar 
cavities (Stuart, 1978). Haskins and Enzmann (1938) reported that 
L. acervorum canadensis var. yankee (= L. muscorum, Brown, 
1955) workers stridulated when licking their larvae. Stridulation has 
also been noted among other Leptothoracine ants (Adlerz, 1896; 
Wheeler, 1903; Wilson and Fagan, 1974). 
This study is a preliminary investigation of stridulation in L. 
muscorum workers. The purpose is to observe the stridulatory 
apparatus of L. muscorum workers; to monitor the substrate-borne 
and airborne components of their stridulatory signal; to discover if 
the signal can be transmitted through the ant’s legs; and to 
enumerate the contexts in which L. muscorum workers stridulate 
both inside and outside their nests. 
Methods and Materials 
L. muscorum colonies were collected from rotting wood near 
Rouyn, Quebec, and maintained in the laboratory using techniques 
described by Alloway (1980). The ants were fed three times a week 
