Strategy on the predation of arboreal weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius) on a ground nesting ant Camponotus compressus (Fabricius)

Abstract

The weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius) occurring in Jhalda, Purulia of West Bengal, India feeds on different kinds of prey animals. These ants attack the ant Camponotous compressus in their natural habitats to feed on them. C. compressus are larger in size in respect to the predator ant O. smaragdina. Therefore, they have developed the art of group attack to capture the prey individual. In this article, described how O. smaragdina targeted and immobilized its prey on way of biting the body parts to ensure stretching the trapped individual prior to carry the same cooperatively to the canopy nest.