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Abstract
The predatory biology of the ant Pyramica benten, a short‐mandibulate form in the tribe Dacetini, Myrmicinae, was studied in the field and laboratory. Pyramica benten prefers disturbed habitats, where they hunt predominantly collembolans of Entomobryidae. Laboratory observation and experiments revealed that this ant hunted such entomobryids more efficiently than collembolans of Tomocelidae and Isotomidae. The hunting behaviour of the ants is characterized by their grabbing the prey near the mouthparts and ambushing without approaching the prey. Success in this stealthy hunting is most probably enhanced by luring the prey with body smearing using organic material. Strumigenys are closely related to Pyramica but they are long‐mandibulate forms. Both genera are speciose and specialized predators on Collembola. Coleoptera is another group that has evolved specialized predators on Collembola so these dacetines and the coleopterans are compared for their hunting tactics and species diversity.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank C. Peeters who kindly read through the manuscript and improved it. I also thank H. Tamura and S. Naomi for advice and discussion, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. I am grateful to the following people for identification of specimens: H. Tamura, R. Ito and T. Ushiroda for Collembola, K. Ishikawa for Gamasida, K. Ishii for Myriapoda, and N. Tsurusaki for Opiliones. Thanks to S. Kubota for suggesting the study sites and collection of ant colonies, and T. Satoh, Y. Hagiwara and M. Terayama for their help during various stages of the study.