ANTS PREDACEOUS ON COCKROACHES
A large roach endeavored to escape by crossing the main front of the army. The creature made several powerful jumps, but each time it touched the ground ... its legs were grasped by the fearless ants.... In the end it fell ... and was instantly torn to bits and carried to the rear.... Another ant with the body of a wood roach was assisted by a worker who held the carrier's abdomen high in the air out of the way of her burden, all the way to the nest.
Howes (1919)
Family FORMICIDAE
From the known entomophagous habits of the lower ants (Wheeler, 1928), we wonder that there are not more records of ants feeding on cockroaches, because this act must occur frequently. Kirby and Spence (1822) stated that R. Kittoe had observed in Antigua that ants which nested in the roofs would seize a cockroach by the legs so it could not move, kill it, and carry it up to their nest. Hotchkiss (1874) observed ants kill cockroaches on shipboard. Cockroaches attracted to sugar in the pantry were killed and carried off by the ants. The destruction of cockroaches by army ants has been recorded by Bates (1863), Wallace (1891), Beebe (1917, 1919), Howes (1919), and others. Dead and mutilated specimens of Ischnoptera sp. [undoubtedly Parcoblatta americana (Gurney, personal communication, 1958)] are common in the nests of species of Formica in California (Mann, 1911).
Aphaenogaster picea Emery
Natural prey.—Ectobius pallidus, U.S.A., Massachusetts (Roth and Willis, 1957).
Camponotus pennsylvanicus (De Geer)
Common name.—Carpenter ant.
Natural prey.—Parcoblatta pensylvanica, U.S.A. (Rau, 1940): The ants entered traps set up to capture the cockroach and carried off about a dozen adults of both sexes.
Dorylus (Anomma) nigricans subsp. sjöstedi Emery
Natural prey.—Small cockroach, Belgian Congo (Raignier and van Boven, 1955).
Dorylus (Anomma) wilverthi Emery
Natural prey.—Small cockroaches, Belgian Congo (Raignier and van Boven, 1955).
Dorylus sp.
Common name.—"Safari ant."
Natural prey.—Cockroaches, Africa, Lake Victoria (Carpenter, 1920): When the "Safari ants" were hunting, many species of cockroaches were driven from hiding among dead leaves in the forest. The cockroaches rushed about but easily fell prey to the ants which tore them to bits.
Eciton burchelli (Westwood)
Common name.—Army ant.
Natural prey.—Cockroaches, Panama Canal Zone (Johnson, 1954; Schneirla, 1956).
Formica omnivora
Synonymy.—The identity of this form is unknown. There are no species of Formica on Ceylon. There was another Formica omnivora described from tropical America, whose identity is also unknown (W. L. Brown, personal communication, 1956).
Natural prey.—Cockroaches, Ceylon (Kirby and Spence, 1822).
Iridomyrmex humilis Mayr
Common name.—Argentine ant.
Natural prey.—Cockroaches, injured individuals only (Ealand, 1915).
Lasius alienus (Förster)
Natural prey.—Ectobius pallidus, U.S.A., Massachusetts (Roth and Willis, 1957).
Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius)
Common name.—Big-headed ant.
Natural prey.—Holocompsa fulva, Hawaii (Illingworth, 1916).
Nauphoeta cinerea and Pycnoscelus surinamensis, Hawaii (Illingworth, 1914, 1942): The ants followed and killed N. cinerea and P. surinamensis as they burrowed in moist soil and attacked and destroyed N. cinerea in breeding cages.
[XIII. VERTEBRATA]
Class PISCES
In British Guiana, Beebe (1925a) found undetermined cockroach remains in the stomachs of four species of fish belonging to three families, as follows:
Family POTAMOTRYGONTIDAE