Ectatomma tuberculatum: Foraging Biology and Association with Crematogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Ectatomma tuberculatum (Olivier) preys primarily on small invertebrates, including other social insects. In Panama, workers forage primarily at night and nocturnal activity begins with a mass exit at dusk. Several times a day, particularly at dawn and dusk, hundreds of Crematogaster limata Fr. Smith file into nest entrances of E. tuberculatum. These cleptobiotic encounters may represent a primitive form of social parasitism.