Leaders follow leaders to reunite the colony: relocation dynamics of an Indian queenless ant in its natural habitat

Several factors cause animals to relocate. In this context, ant species are unique in that they not only have to relocate adults, but they must also move their brood while maintaining colony cohesion. We explored the colony relocation dynamics of the ponerine ant Diacamma indicum in its natural habitat. Irrespective of whether ants relocated from their original nest in their natural habitat or from a nestbox in an unfamiliar but natural habitat, colonies experienced fission and multiple fragmentations. However, this fission was transient, and the colonies eventually unified at a single site. The movement of the ants did not exhibit any directional preference, and the gamergate did not enjoy any special attention during the relocation process. Tandem running, a behaviour in which one ant leads a follower ant from one site to another, was used to relocate about 96% of the colony members, and 28% of the colony became tandem leaders on average. The evacuation phase was significantly shorter than the reunification phase, and this may be an adaptive response to a disturbance in the antʹs dwelling. Unlike other ants, the leaders were sighted at most of the temporary sites and thus, in principle, had the opportunity to compare the conditions of alternative sites directly. Most leaders discovered the final site by following other leaders; leaders following leaders occurred throughout the relocation process and constituted 30% of the total tandem runs. In the context of these experiments, the colony relocation and reunification dynamics of ants in their natural habitat are discussed.