Experimental Investigation of Information Transmission in Formica pratensis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Using "Binary Tree" Maze

Organization of foraging and information transmission in the ant Formica pratensis were studied using the “binary tree” maze. The ants were shown to use distant homing. They were able to memorize and transmit up to four bits of information. The foraging mode was shown to depend on the colony size: an increase in the number of ants was accompanied by switching from solitary to group foraging. A relay mode of information transfer (an ant relays the information to several others, etc.) was revealed. The organization of work and information flows in the colonies of Formica polyctena and F. pratensis were found to be essentially different. The communicative systems in dominant ant species are variable and species-specific.